


Be Brave

by SCphantom



Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: (it's superhero level violence), Child Abuse, F/F, Homophobic Language, Mild Blood, Mild Language, Spiderman AU, Superhero Violence, i wanted it though, nobody asked for this, so here it is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2019-10-22
Packaged: 2020-10-05 10:47:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 49,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20487629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SCphantom/pseuds/SCphantom
Summary: Emma Nolan knew three things about her life;One, She was definitely gayTwo, Her grandmother was the only person who loved herAnd most importantly, Emma Nolan was not brave.orthe spiderman au I saw on shitty-prom-aus on tumblr that I wanted, and got carried away





	1. Chapter 1

Emma Nolan knew three things about her life;  
One, She was definitely gay  
Two, Her grandmother was the only person who loved her  
And most importantly, Emma Nolan was not brave.  
The first realization came when she was in middle school. She had known that boys were something that her female classmates desired, even if they were too young to do anything with them besides sit beside them during lunch. When questioned about the boys she liked, Emma wasn’t sure how to answer. She just didn’t feel right whenever she tried to picture herself with a boy. When she realised she liked girls instead, it was a bit of a freak out moment. Emma had grown up with everyone, including her parents, shun and turn their noses up at anyone who even resembled a member of the LGBT community. It was the summer between the seventh and eighth grade where she locked herself in her bathroom while her parents were at work. Emma looked at her reflection in the mirror for a long time. Her own hazel eyes scrutinized her pale face and long blonde locks as they fell around her cheeks and down her shoulders. She took a deep shuddering breath before she willed herself to say the words out loud.  
“I am gay” She had whispered to her self, unsure how her own reflection would act to the news.  
The words hung in the room for a long time, surrounding Emma in the absolute truth. Tears rolled down her face as she realised what she said out loud. Sniffling she looked at herself in the mirror. Her eyes were red and puffy, maybe she had been crying for longer than she thought. As she looked into her own eyes, a sensation washed over herself. She didn’t want to be ashamed of who she was. Without thinking, Emma’s hand reached for the pair of scissors that lay on the bathroom counter. Her other hand grabbed a large chunk of her hair. Glaring into the mirror, Emma raised the scissors to her hair, and cut.  
Her parents were furious when they came home. Emma cut her hair, albeit unevenly, right to her chin. Her mother fret about how long it was before and how much time it would take to grow back. Her father leaned down and asked what happened. Emma said that she had got gum in her hair and couldn't get it out so she cut it, a lie she had prepared the moment after she started cutting. Her parents believed her, and her mother set to work evening out Emma’s crude cutting job, muttering about what people in church would think about her daughter looking “horrendously masculine”. All the while, Emma’s short hair covered a small smile that ghosted her lips whenever she glanced into the mirror.

The second realisation happened halfway into Emma’s sophomore year of High School. Her ‘friends’ had stopped interacting with her years ago, the day they saw Emma’s hair cut. They didn’t believe the lie Emma had fed her parents, and, with their prior suspicious confirmed, they determined that Emma was simply not ‘normal’ enough to hang out with them. Emma didn’t care that much, she didn’t really feel like herself with them anyway, but she would admit that days at school became very very lonely without anyone to talk to.  
For her 13th birthday, Emma’s grandmother had gotten her a small notebook for her to write down what she was thinking. The notebook became Emma’s venting system, since she had no friends to vent to. She would write simple things in there, how adorable cats and dogs were, a funny thing a teacher said in class once, or how much she loved fall decorations. But as she got older, more personal things came up in the book, how mean the girls at school were to her, her love for writing music, or, most common, how hard it was to keep her secret that she was gay. Emma thought she hid the notebook in a very very safe spot, a floorboard in her room, under her bed, that was a little loose. If she stepped on it the right way, it would come undone, and that was where she put it.  
Clearly, it wasn’t that good of a hiding space.  
She had just come home from a long day at school, someone had broken into her locker and placed a dead rat in it. Which, while was completely and utterly disgusting, was very well thought through. The person who did it must have had to find a dead rat, and move it to the locker without getting detected. Not only that they must have had to find out what her locker combination was and that-  
“Emma, come here.” Her father’s sharp words cut through Emma’s thoughts like a knife.  
Nervous, Emma backed up and looked into the dinning room of her house to see her father standing towards her, an angry scowl on his face. Her mother sat in a chair next to him, her back to Emma, though she could clearly see that her mother’s face was in her hands.  
Crap, Emma thought, they must have found out that I didn’t turn in that paper for English.  
Emma shuffled into the dining room, preparing for a lecture on how she was grounded until she turned the paper in, and how awful a child she was for slacking off. As she shuffled closer to the table, she realised she was in for a whole other world of hurt. There, sitting on the table as if it had done nothing wrong, was the journal/diary that she wrote in. Before Emma could even start thinking of a lie to cover herself her father angrily scooped up the journal and shoved it in Emma’s face.  
“What the fuck is this?” He yelled  
Emma searched her dad’s face for a trace of any sort of sympathy, but found none. Her gaze dropped to the floor.  
“It’s my diary.” She mumbled ashamed.  
“Your diary…” her father echoed. Emma wasn’t looking at his face, but she could hear the malace etched into every corner of his features. Before Emma could look up and try to explain (or lie) about what he had read, she felt something hard connect into her head, very very forcefully. The shock of the blow completely knocked Emma off of her feet, as she came into contact with the ground as roughly as the object came into contact on her face. Emma reached her hand up towards her left eyebrow, wincing as she touched the spot. She finally got the courage to look up to see her father, notebook still in hand. It came crashing down on her like a ton of bricks, her father hit her. He hit her hard. With her own notebook.  
A million and one emotions flashed through her head at once. She was angry and ashamed and wanted to cry but also wanted to scream. She could have sat there for hours untangling her thoughts but was broken out of them when her father sized the lapel of her cameo jacket and pulled her off of the ground.  
“You worthless faggot!” He screamed, red in the face, “we should have gotten rid of you sooner!”  
We. The word echoed through Emma’s mind. Her mother was there. Emma’s eyes darted towards her mother, who was still sitting at the table, head still in her hands. She did nothing to help as Emma’s father slammed her into the wall, knocking the wind straight out of her lungs. He let go of her jacket, letting Emma collapse to the floor. Again she looked to her mother, still quietly sitting at the table, doing nothing.  
“Don’t fucking look at her!” Her father yelled, standing in Emma’s line of sight to her mother, “she won’t do anything to help you!”  
He raised his arm and brought it down sharply to meet with Emma’s cheek, the ring on his finger causing a large cut on her face which started to bleed. He wound up again for another blow making Emma screw her eyes closed fearfully, before a small angry voice cut through the room.  
“Get out.”  
Emma opened her eyes to look at where her mother was. She was standing, but still had her back to Emma.  
“Get your stuff and get out of here now” Her mother whipped around furiously when Emma didn’t move. She saw tear marks streaming down her face, eyes red from crying, yet held no sadness. “I said get out!”  
Emma scrambled backwards on the floor, breathing heavily. They were actually going to kick her out. Every one of her worst nightmares had come true. If Emma had been brave, she would have fought back. Tried to reason. But she ran.  
She ran off of the floor and down the hall to her room. She took two duffel bags down from her closet, and just started throwing stuff in. Clothes, books, trinkets, anything that would fit. Once both of her bags were full, she ran across the hall to her parent’s office. Birth certificate, Social Security card, immunization record, learner’s permit, baby pictures. She scooped up the first four things and stopped before grabbing her baby book. Her name was written in immaculate cursive on the front. Emma traced her name across the letters. Her brain reminded her she needed to hurry, so she shoved the book in her bag. If she didn’t take it, her parents would probably burn it.  
She grabbed both duffel bags, and her guitar. Her parents didn’t like it when she played anyway. She scurried down the hallway and past her parents, where they still sat at the table. There was a fire going in the fireplace, and her journal was nowhere to be seen, Emma didn’t ask where it was. She scooped up her book bag from where she had dropped it after coming home and reached for her keys.  
“Don’t bother taking your keys.” Her father spat, “We’re getting the locks changed tomorrow.”  
Emma Nolan was not brave or quick witted or outspoken in general. There was a moment where she felt her entire world had come crashing down upon her, and it had. She was being kicked out for being who she was, for being the way she was created. Something about that statement, it struck a nerve deep inside Emma, something she had not felt before. Angry, hurt, confused, and then telling her not to bother coming home ever again. Furrious.  
Emma yanked her keychain off of the hook where it sat, a keychain from when they went to Disney World last year, a small heart with a cat and dog on it that said “support your local shelter”. She undid the singular brass key from the loop and threw it on the ground so hard it might have made a dent in the hardwood floor. She shoved the bright castle and heart in her pocket and kicked the key to where her parents sat.  
“I don’t need your fucking key anymore.” She spat, voice raw from crying.  
She will always remember the offended looks on her parent’s faces as she slammed the door behind her. She didn’t know where she was walking, she just went. Ignoring the incredulous looks of her neighbors as she walked past with a black eye, bloody cut on her cheek, and two duffle bags. She would be the town gossip for tomorrow, but for now she didn’t care. The sun started to dip low, and her salty tears soon began to burn the cut on her face. Walk somewhere she willed herself. So she went to the only place she knew.  
Emma timidly rang the doorbell to her grandmother’s house. As she heard footsteps approaching, she realised she didn’t entirely know what to say. ‘Hey don’t know if you knew this but I’m hella gay and my parents just kicked me out, can I stay here?’ sounded ridiculous. Come to think of it, Emma wasn’t even sure that her grandma would be okay with her being gay, let alone staying at her house. This was the worst idea, she had to get out of there.  
Just when she had come to her senses, Betsy Nolan opened the door. The two stood there for a moment as Betsy took in the sight of her granddaughter, disheveled and beaten, and exhausted from crying. She then took in the bags that lay at her feet.  
“Oh my dear girl,” Betsy reached her hand out to hold Emma’s face gently, taking in how Emma flinched when she brushed her thumb against her left eyebrow, “what happened, my sweet girl?”  
Emma’s breath was taken away for a second time at how gentle and kind her grandmother was. Neither of her parents were this gentle, and that had been before they-  
In a moment all of the days misfortunes had settled upon her, and the rat in her locker was a nice surprise verus what had happened at home. Before she could help it, she just started sobbing into her grandmother’s arms. Not crying as she had done before, these were deep chest shaking gasping for air sobs filled with all the grief and sorrow she felt. She wrenched her eyes shut and let the saltwater tears burn the cut on her face. She couldn’t tell how long her grandma let her cry before she got ushered inside and on the couch. She could barely process the instructions of ‘stay on the couch while I get you something to drink’ her grandma gave her. Emma just felt so empty. A moment later Betsy came back with a glass of water.  
“Drink.” She instructed.  
Emma did as she was told, drinking nearly the entire glass in one breath.  
“Good,” her grandmother soothed, “now, can you tell me what happened?”  
Emma gazed into her grandma’s eyes, and saw how they were brimming with concern and love for her granddaughter. Emma willed herself to let out everything she had been keeping in her journal for the past two years. How she was a lesbian, and how her parents just found out and kicked her out. She ended her weeping tale with a sad “and somebody left a dead rat in my locker this morning” that was more or less mumbled as an afterthought.  
There was silence for a moment of time before she looked up to her grandmother, who’s eyes were filled with untamed rage. Emma felt her stomach drop down to the center of the earth. It was going to happen again, the hurt and the yelling and the name calling. She shut her eyes tightly and prepared for the physical or mental blow her grandma was about to make, but it never came.  
Emma felt her hair being tucked behind her ear as she carefully opened her eyes. Her grandmother was still filled with rage, but it wasn’t being directed at Emma, instead the bruise that was forming around the left side of her face.  
“He did this to you?” Her grandmother seathed.  
Emma nodded timidly.  
Betsy took a deep breath “Emma, I know that you are very scared and hurt right now. But believe me sweetheart, I will never to this to you, ever. You are not going back to that house for as long as I live, do you understand?”  
The urgentness in Betsy’s voice forced Emma to nod again.  
“You can stay with me for as long as you need. It will never be a bother to me because I love you. Every part of you, including the part where you are gay.”  
Emma started to weep for what seemed like the one hundredth time that night, before launching to hug her grandma while whispering ‘thank you’ over and over again. Betsy was the first to pull away.  
“I’m going to get you something to eat dear, then I’m going to make a phone call. I need you to take this pad of paper and this pen and write down everything that you didn’t grab from your room so I can get it, okay?” Betsy handed her the promised pen and paper, and Emma let out a watery ‘okay’.  
Betsy exited the room and came back with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich before she left to make her call. Emma couldn’t help but let out a breath of relief and amusement as she heard her grandma yell at who she assumed were her parents, warning them to give up Emma’s stuff or else. Her heart returned to a normal speed when she heard Betsy warn her parents to never even look in Emma’s direction for as long as they live. She silently sat on the couch eating her sandwich, feeling more loved in a half an hour of talking than she had her whole life.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma was only loved by one person, or so she thought.

Even after making her last stand to her parents with the key, Emma was not brave. She never stood up to any bullies that pulled her stuff out of her locker, or tripped her in the halls. She never talked to anyone at school after being kicked out, never squashed any rumors, never confirmed anything. Emma was not a superhero, no like the ones she read about in the comics her grandma got her for Christmas. She wish she was. No matter how hard she tried, she always found a reason to be scared. 

Emma wasn’t a superhero, she was just a scared closeted Lesbian that had been kicked out of her own house by her parents, and was hated by everyone at school.

Well, scratch that.

Not _ everyone _ at her school hated her. There was one girl who didn’t seem to outwardly hate Emma, and that person was Alyssa Greene. You know Alyssa, everyone knew Alyssa. She was undoubtedly the most popular girl at school, but didn’t make you feel like you were talking to the Queen of England. Everyone agreed she was the friendliest and easiest girl to get along with. Emma couldn’t argue with that. 

When news got out that Emma had been kicked out of her house, the entire student body collectively, as Emma put it “lost their shit”. It was bad being bullied cause you dressed wierd, had short butch hair, and played the gutair alone in the band closet at lunch, but when your bullies find out that your own parents don’t even love you, damn, they have a field day. It ranged from pointed glares and smirks from other students as you passed down the hall, to notes written on and placed in your locker. One of the worst things that happened was Emma being tripped in the hall. She fell and her stuff went everywhere (because _ of course _ she forgot to zip up her backpack). Everyone had a good laugh at her before someone said “If only Emma had some parents to help her out”, and they bust out into hysterics.

_ Damn, _ Emma thought. _ That one stings _.

Emma’s goal was to pick up her stuff as quickly as possible, then go to the bathroom and have a good cry about that comment, but then a voice as light as bells rang through the hallway.

“Why don’t you go to the restroom and re-apply your lipstick Chyrel? It’s so sticky hopefully it will keep your mouth shut and your ass comments to yourself!”

An amused “oooooo” went through the crowd as Chyrel went sauntering off down the hallway, cheeks red. The owner of the voice knelt down next to Emma and started to gather papers.

“Sorry about her, she has a rare condition where it’s impossible for her to shut up.”

Emma sat agape as Alyssa Greene knelt beside her and gathered papers. Emma brain’s mind ran a mile a minute as her brain tried to reboot itself. No one helped her pick up her stuff, no one ever talks to her unless they have something mean to say, and absolutely _ no one _ had ever stuck up for her like that before. Before she knew it, Alyssa’s deep brown eyes looked at her as she held out the papers and notebooks she had gathered for the backpack.

“Um,” Emma’s brain looked like the Windows loading screen, “Thanks.”

Alyssa smiled, genuine and true, “No problem. Emma, right?”

“Ye- yeah” 

Emma took the papers from Alyssa carefully, preparing herself for Alyssa to potentially throw them behind her shoulder at the last minute. Alyssa did not however, and once the papers, notebooks, pencils and binder was back in Emma’s bag they stood up together.

“Well, um, okay. I guess that’s all, thanks for your help.” Emma got ready to book it down the packed hall before Alyssa grabbed her arm. The sudden contact made Emma jump out of her skin as she flinched and pulled away quickly. Emma was trying to get better at physical contact, but for some reason every time she was touched she felt like she was about to be slammed into another wall.

Alyssa must have noticed Emma’s negative reaction and pulled her hand away in a blur. She held it in her other hand while studying Emma carefully. Emma sucked in a breath.

“Sorry about grabbing you I-” Alyssa looked at Emma with wide eyes, looking more nervous than Emma had ever seen the star student get, “I just wanted to-to, say, I think you’re really…” Alyssa seemed to struggle with her next word, “brave.”

Emma’s eyebrows scrunched up at the comment, “me?”

“Yeah!” Alyssa smiled, “I just, whenever someone makes fun of you or something, you just… get back up. I could never get back up like you do. It’s amazing the way you hold yourself, and I don’t think anyone could do what you do every day.”

Emma was stunned. As much as her paranoia was telling her that Alyssa didn’t really mean it and there was ulterior motives, she just felt that Alyssa was so genuine, and ended up believing her anyway.

Emma wanted to pour out how much that comment meant to her, but her brain was still trying to boot up so she settled on a simple, “Wow, um, thanks”

That seemed to be good enough for Alyssa, she smiled widely before talking again.

“Now that we’re talking, I hope it’s okay to ask a small favour?” Alyssa said hopefully

_ ThisIsATrapThisIsATrap “ _Uh, sure, what is it?”

“Well, you might have guessed I’m not the best at chemistry, but since you are and we’re in the same class, I was hoping you could help me?” 

_ THiSIsATraPTHISISATRAP _ “Is this some elaborate prank you and your friends are trying to pull on me?”... _ smooth _

Emma immediately wished she could take back her comment the moment she said it. Alyssa’s face fell and she just looked like a sad puppy. 

“Um, no.” Alyssa looked at her shoes, “listen, I know I haven’t given you a whole lot of reasons to trust me, but I really do want to get to know you better. My friends-” Alyssa stopped herself, assumedly to bite back some words, “they aren’t very nice, and they don’t say very nice things about… you. But I’m _ done _ believing whatever they say. I believe that you are nice, and I want to get to know you better.”

Emma was shocked, and astonished. She could not believe this was happening to her, someone was trying to be her friend, someone beside her grandmother. What the hell was happening?

Emma must have spent to long in shocked amazement because Alyssa started to ramble,

“But if you don’t want to that’s fine I’m sure you’re satisfied doing what you’re doing you don’t need my help to be happy this is stupid I’m being so sensitive God this is embarassing I’m so sorry you don’t have to talk to me anymore I’ll just-”

“Wait, Alyssa.” Emma’s mind finally caught up to her mouth, “I’m sorry for assuming you were trying to prank me. I- I really do appreciate you trying to hang out with me, hell, just talking to me.” She let out a sad chuckle, “I would like to get to know you better too.”

For the first time since Alyssa started the conversation, it looked like she was lost for words. If Alyssa was honest, she didn’t think she’d make it this far with Emma. 

“Give me your phone.” Alyssa blurted.

“Uh, why?” Emma asked, suddenly defensive again.

“For me, to put my number in, so we can text.” Alyssa smiled, regaining her footing.

“Oh,” Emma said blankly, feeling stupid again, “uh, here.”

Alyssa swiftly took her phone, typing in her number under a new contact. She sent herself a text, smiling contently when she felt her phone buzz in her backpack. She opened her mouth to say something, but the morning bell rang, signaling to the students that they had 3 minutes to get to class.

“Oh, I have to go, I’ll see you around, yeah?”Alyssa darted down the hallway for her first period class before letting Emma respond.

“Bye.” Emma whispered to herself, before turning to walk to her own first period class.

Emma sat at her desk in the back listening to her English teacher drone on about whatever book they were supposed to read that night. Emma couldn’t will herself to listen, she was still reeling about what had happened. She had made a friend, she thinks? She hadn’t said a whole lot, Alyssa did most of the talking. What if Alyssa thought she was illiterate? She didn’t need that one added to the ‘Emma Nolan is a freak’ pile of gossip. A soft buzz distracted Emma from her thoughts, she carefully reached into her pocket to look at the phone without her teacher seeing. There was a text from Alyssa:

**I almost forgot, are you okay with helping me with chemistry?**

Emma chewed the side of her mouth. _ Don’t be a coward _ she thought, _ Alyssa’s trying, give her a chance _

**Sure, when do you want to study?**

Emma watched with rapt attention as the bubble with three dots floated for a second before the response came:

**How about at lunch? I can meet you. Where do you eat lunch anyway? I never see you.**

_ Crap _ . Emma’s heart seized as she thought of her response. She ate lunch in the band closet, like a loser. It was the only place the popular kids couldn’t find her, where she was safe from bullying. If she told Alyssa, that might change. Emma thought for a long time whether to tell the truth or lie for a long time. _ Fuck it. _

**I usually go to the band closet for privacy. You can meet me there and I’ll open the door.**

Emma nodded slightly as she sent send, but quickly sent a follow up.

**Could you keep where you’re going under wraps though? It’s kind of the only spot where I get left alone.**

Alyssa’s response came quickly

**Of course, I’ll meet you there at lunch.**

When lunch did roll around, Emma went to the band closet as she always did. Yet this time, as she sat in the small room, she couldn’t but help and feel nervous for the guest who had yet to arrive. Whether it be lucky or unlucky, she didn’t have to wait long, as she heard a faint knock on the door. Emma cracked the door slightly to make sure it was the right person, and sure enough there stood Alyssa, bouncy dark curls framing her smiling face. 

“Hey stranger, got a cup of sugar?” Alyssa teased.

Emma couldn’t help the small chuckle that came out of her lips. She opened the door wider so Alyssa could walk into the room with her. Emma took a quick glance outside the door to make sure no one had followed Alyssa. Sure enough, there was no one in the hallway. Emma let out a sigh of relief she didn’t know she had been holding until that moment. She closed the door and turned to Alyssa, who was already making herself comfortable on the floor, pulling out her chemistry notes. 

“So,” Emma started, “what exactly did you need help with in chemistry?”

Alyssa smiled sheepishly “how would you feel if I said, everything?”

Alyssa was the top of the class at James Madison High School, top grades on every test. Emma thought she was the smartest person ever. Well, she thought that until she started to help Alyssa with chemistry. It became clear that whatever knowledge Alyssa had about chemistry was very limited. Around the second week of chemistry during lunch, Emma saw really just how much she was struggling.

“Wait, so when a solution is stirred, the molecules break apart… slower?” Alyssa asked, pencil rubbing into her head as she looked at the chemistry worksheet like it was in a different language.

“Um, not really,” Emma started, trying to be as supportive as possible, “the, um, opposite happens actually.”

To Emma’s shock, Alyssa didn’t handle that with as much grace as she normally does. She slammed her pencil down on the ground with a loud “Damn it!” She shoved her worksheet into her backpack, crumbling it severely as she pushed it down into her gigantic bag. 

Emma sat frozen at Alyssa’s outburst, shocked as she grabbed her various chemistry things and shoved them in her bag.

“God chemistry is the fucking worst!” Alyssa shouted at the wall.

As she shouted, a few stray tears rolled down her cheeks as her breaths became shorter. Emma immediately realised why Alyssa was so mad.

“Hey, Alyssa.” Emma said as gently as possible, still a little rattled by the shouting, “you don’t have to get it right away. It’s okay to not know.” 

Hesitantly, Emma reached out her hand to Alyssa, and to her surprise Alyssa took it and squeeze it tightly.

“I’m glad you think that Emma.” Alyssa sniffled.

“It’s not just me Alyssa, everyone at school knows you’re great at a million things, so what if chemistry isn’t one of them?

Alyssa looked up and gave Emma a watery smile, “it’s not the people at school I’m worried about.” She paused, like she was holding in a secret before letting it spill, “It’s my mom. She just wants me to be perfect at everything and it’s just too much sometimes. If she knew how bad I’m doing in chemistry she would freak out.” a small sob escaped between her lips, “I just wish I could be perfect like she wants me to.” 

“You are perfect.” Emma countered immediately, without thinking about what she was saying. Alyssa looked at her with a ‘yeah, right’ look. “I’m serious.”

“Oh really? Why would a perfect person be crying in a band closet because she doesn’t understand simple chemistry?”

“You’re,” Emma hesitated, “you’re perfect because you’re you. You’re perfect to me because no other person had ever been this nice to me, ever. I think this is the longest I’ve ‘hung out’ with someone since I went to High School. Your friendship means a lot to me, it really, really does.”

Alyssa’s red eyes hesitantly found their way to Emma’s “I feel like you’re the only person I can really talk to. I’ve never told anyone how I feel about my mom before.”

Emma sucked in a breath, “me too.”

Alyssa shifted so her head rested on Emma’s shoulder, their sides pressed up against each other. 

“Is it okay if we forget about chemistry right now? I just want to relax.” Alyssa asked.

Emma flushed at the close contact to the girl, “of course.”

From then on, band closet lunch with Alyssa became a daily thing for Emma. They sat in the closet and Emma helped Alyssa with her chemistry homework. Per Emma’s request to Alyssa, they only worked on it for 30 minutes, then spent the remainder of lunch doing something else so Alyssa wouldn’t become too overwhelmed. When Emma suggested that system, Alyssa buzzed with gratitude, happy she didn’t have to study every moment of the day. The end of lunch was filled with the girls talking about whatever, whenever. The different kind of food they liked, what kind of TV they watched, favourite movies, anything. As they got to know each other better, the talks became deeper and longer. Emma liked talking to someone instead of writing things in her diary. One day, Alyssa decided to drop the question she had been holding in for a while.

“Emma?” She asked when their conversation went quiet.

“Yeah?” Emma responded, munching on her sandwich contently.

“You don’t have to answer this if I’m overstepping a line,” Alyssa started, “but, why do you live with your grandma?”

Alyssa watched as Emma’s demeanor changed in a moment, switching from goofy and carefree to… well she looked like she was having war flashbacks.

“You really don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.” Alyssa urged, simultaneously wishing she could take her question back.

“No, no” Emma took in a shaky breath, willing herself not to cry before she started to tell the story, “we’ve known each other for four months, it’s really safe to say you’re my best friend.”

Alyssa smiled, “you’re mine too.”

Emma locked eyes with Alyssa, her best friend. Something about talking with her, spending time with her, just felt so _ right _.

“I just,” Emma paused, “If I tell you, you can’t tell _ anyone _. Not even your goldfish.”

Alyssa crossed her heart as seriously as she could, “goldie shant know.”

“I’m serious Alyssa.” Emma glared.

“I’m serious too Emma.” Alyssa stood her ground, “I care about you and whatever happened with you clearly wasn’t good.”

_ Just tell her you dolt, _ Emma’s inner voice compelled her, _ it’s very clear she cares about you. _

“It’s a long story,” Emma started, “but, I… I was kicked out. By my parents.”

Alyssa’s face fell, “Oh my God, I’m so sorry Emma.”  
_You’ve already started this, might as well finish it._

“There’s more, and it’s something I want to tell you.” Alyssa nodded at Emma’s words, “They kicked me out because,” Emma choked back a sob, “because they found out I’m…” Emma’s next words came out as barely a whisper “I’m gay.”

The silence that hung in the room was absolutely deadly to Emma. She didn’t even register she was crying until she felt the drops splatter on her shirt. It was all over now, she couldn’t keep her mouth shut and now Alyssa hated her, she had lost her best friend just two minutes after she admitted they were best friends. What an idiot move, and now Alyssa would tell everyone and-

The spiral was broken off by a pair of thin yet muscular arms wrapping around her shoulders.

“Oh Emma,” Alyssa whispered, “your parents are absolute fools for missing out on a daughter as wonderful as you.”

“You don’t hate me?” Emma whispered, voice breaking.

“Emma.” Alyssa said sternly pulling away from the hug to look her dead in the eyes, “I don’t care what my mother, or this backwards town says. You are not wrong for being who you are, and telling me this just affirms my belief that you are the strongest and bravest person in this entire town. I can’t ever hate you for that. I’m going to be your friend for a long time, and you are just going to have to get used to it.”

Emma laughed, wiping away her tears, “you got it. Somehow I’ll manage.”

Alyssa pulled Emma in for another hug. The two sat in the embrace for a while before looking at Emma with eyes pulsating with curiosity, and something of a realisation.

“Emma,” She started slowly, “when did all of this happen?”

“Ummm,” Emma thought carefully, albeit curious as to where Alyssa was going with the conversation “like, two weeks before you rescued me in the hallway.”

Fiery anger that unlike Emma had ever seen flashed across Alyssa’s eyes, “when you came to school that week, you had a cut and a bruise on your face.” Alyssa narrowed her eyes, “was that them?”

A large part of Emma wanted to say no, deny it, but she was already riding the truth train so “Yeah, it was them”

“I’m going to kill them” Alyssa snapped with such anger Emma actually believed her.

“You and my grandma are on the same page then.”

Alyssa made Emma reevaluate two things. One, maybe her grandmother wasn’t the only person who loved her. Two, maybe she was braver than she realised.

The next year made Emma reevaluate that last thing even more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're so close to superhero stuff guys bear with me.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Alyssa had come bouncing into the band closet during lunch as excited as she always does. Yet this time, she had a wide smile on her face, and looked positively giddy.

“What?” Was all Emma said, hoping that Alyssa would spill whatever was making her so happy.

To Emma’s surprise all Alyssa did was smirk slightly before shrugging her shoulders, “nothing in particular, why do you ask?”

Emma narrowed her eyes at Alyssa as the dark haired girl went about pulling out her chemistry notes, smiling all the while.

“Alyssa, what’s going on?” 

Alyssa looked at Emma with a teasing look of horror and shock, “why, Emma Nolan. Is there any reason why I have to justify why I’m in such a good mood? Can a girl not just have a good day by looking on the bright side of things?”

“At this school, yes.” Alyssa rolled her eyes in response.

The room was quiet for a moment, before Alyssa suddenly turned to face Emma, getting very close in her face.

“Okay, I'll tell you but you didn’t get this from me, got it?” Emma nodded, “I was talking to Ms Erickson after Chemistry today, and she told me that the chemistry department is going on a field trip next week to Oscorp Labs! Isn’t that exciting?”

Emma nodded her head slowly, “and Oscorp Labs… is…”

Alyssa smacked Emma’s arm, “Only the leading developer on genetic modifying, sustainable resources, and life curing medicines. You know, the company we’ve been discussing in Chemistry for the past week and a half?”

“Oh,” Emma mumbled. If she was honest, Emma had been paying less and less attention in Chemistry once the lesson was over. It was much more interesting to look at the back of Alyssa’s dark curly hair and imagine how soft they feel.

The two teenagers talked about other things besides Oscorp for the rest of lunch. The next day, in chemistry Ms Erickson announced the field trip, set a week from Thursday, and passed out permission slips. It was easy for Emma to get her grandma to sign it and turned it in the next day.

The next Thursday rolled around very quickly, and soon the chemistry classes of James Madison High School were loaded up on three school busses bound for Indianapoliss, about thirty minutes from Edgewater. Emma sat alone on a seat in the third bus. The third bus itself was pretty empty already, most people, including Alyssa, opting to ride on the first or second bus. Alyssa had been ushered onto the first bus by Kalyee and Shelby, but a quick text assured Emma that they would hang out at the Lab.

The ride passed by quickly enough, and all of the students were led into the large skyscraper esque building. Emma hung near the back to not get spotted, and soon Alyssa joined her side with a large smile as they got taken through the winding halls by the overly happy tour guide. Emma listened to what the lady had to say about each room, but was a bit distracted by how Alyssa’s eyes lit up every time something interesting was explained. Emma couldn’t help her mind from thinking that Alyssa was absolutely gorgeous, and fun to be around. _ No, stop it, bad brain _.

“And here we have the genetic engineering laboratories.” The tour guide droned, leading them into a large room with various glass containers holding a range of insects in them. Emma shuddered, she really didn’t care for bugs all that much, and she could have sworn that the bluish red spider in the beaker next to her was giving her the stink eye. Emma tried to concentrate on whatever the tour guide was saying, “radioactive” “dangerous potential” “curing cancer”. She didn’t notice Kalyee make her way behind her, and very carefully pick up the glass container with the spider inside. As secretly and quietly as she could she shook the cage until the spider fell onto the back of Emma’s jacket, and make its way down Emma’s arm. The group moved on, and Kaylee snickered at her work.

Emma could swear she felt something moving underneath her jacket, but she ignored it. _ You’re just paranoid _, she told herself, walking down the hallway with the class. The movement moved down her arm and on her hand, and Emma willed herself to look. She choked down a surprised squeak as she saw the same spider on her hand that she saw in the lab. Trying to attract as little attention as possible, she brushed the back of her hand on her jeans, trying to get the spider off. The spider did not like that, it bit down on the back of Emma’s hand as hard as possible. Emma let out a quiet hiss of pain, which thankfully no one heard besides maybe Alyssa, who just gave her a sideways glance before looking front again. Frustrated and in pain, Emma brought her hand back up and flicked the spider off her hand and to the ground. The spider seemed to stagger, as if biting Emma took a lot out of it. Without Emma having to step on it, it went belly up and stopped moving.

“Are you alright?” Alyssa whispered.

“Yeah,” Emma whispered back, her heart returning to a normal pace now that the damn spider was gone, “yeah I think I just got bit by a bug or something.”

“Oh, okay.” Alyssa breathed and went back to listening.

Emma looked at the bite on her hand. It was a little swollen around where it had bitten, and was a little red, but Emma didn’t think it was poisonous. There was really only one deadly spider in North America and that was a Black Widow, and that definitely wasn’t a Black Widow, so she would be fine, she thought.

She thought wrong.

Just two minutes after she got bit, her head started pounding. Emma had never had a migraine before, but this is probably what it felt like. The fluorescent lights were suddenly just too bright, shining like the sun but a thousand times worse. Her classmate’s conversations were suddenly a pounding drum in her ears, like she could hear every conversation yet couldn’t hear anything at the same time. She swallowed, only to find that her throat had gone completely dry. She didn’t know where they were or what they were doing, everything was just so _ loud _ and _ bright _. Suddenly they were outside again, and if Emma thought those lights were bad, the actual sunlight was a million times worse. Emma screwed her eyes closed trying to block out the rays, when a cloudy voice cut into the static.

“Emma? Emma?”

Emma cracked her eyes open to see Alyssa’s face, a little blurry, looking directly at her.

“Emma? Are you alright?”

“I’ve been better,” Emma weakly said, her voice hoarse like she had been lost in the desert for a few days.

“I’m going to sit with you on the bus, alright?” Alyssa’s gentle voice said, although to Emma it sounded like Alyssa was underwater.

Emma managed to simply nod in response as they got on bus three back to Edgewater. Emma shuffled to the back of the bus next to the window as Alyssa took a seat next to her. Alyssa said something along the lines of calling her grandmother, but Emma was taken over with a wave of exhaustion. She barely managed to take a look at her pale sweating reflection in the window of the bus before sleep fully grasped on to her.

Falling asleep one place and waking up in an entirely different place was one of the weirdest feelings to Emma. She remembered going to sleep on the bus next to Alyssa, but as she opened her eyes, she found she was tucked under her blankets in her own room. She looked and saw that her glasses were neatly folded on the bedside table next to her. Carefully, as her head was still pounding, she sat up and unfolded her glasses before sliding them on her face.

“What the fuck?” Emma whispered, horrified.

As she looked around the room, she found that everything was horribly distorted through her glasses, as if they were too strong of a prescription for her. She took them off, only to be more disturbed than she had been the moment before. Without her glasses, everything looked sharp and perfect, like it usually did when she had her glasses _ on _. She sat there for a couple minutes putting her glasses on before taking them off again. Every time she put them on, the world would distort, yet, when she took them off, her eyes seemed to function on their own.

“What the _ fuck _?” She whispered again, just for good measure.

So falling asleep one place and waking up another was not the weirdest thing to Emma, it was falling asleep then your eyes magically healing themselves while you slept that was the weird thing for Emma.

Placing her glasses to the side, telling herself she would dissect that crisis later, she pulled her covers back to get out of bed. She was still in her clothes from the field trip, sans her jacket and shoes. She, however, made another disturbing observation as she stood up from her bed. 

Emma’s jeans, which before she fell asleep reached all the way to her ankles, now were about three inches away from her ankle. She looked into the mirror across from her bed and too in her reflection. Her arms before had not a single trace of muscular toning, now looked very fit, and she could see places where they curved into strong muscles. Her entire torso area hadn’t changed much, but she could tell that it looked different, her sides didn’t stick out as much, and she just looked more lean than she had in the past. Of course her jeans were too small, and now that Emma looked in the mirror, she could tell it was because she was just taller than she was before.

What the _ hell _was happening to her?

Before Emma could say ‘what the fuck?’ again, her whole body tremored. Her hair stood up on end, almost as if it could sense something was happening. A deep instinct inside of Emma whispered at her ** _your grandma is coming, cover up so she doesn’t see this_ **.

Emma couldn’t explain why, but she knew the instinct was right. She yanked the comforter off of her bed and wrapped it around her almost forigen body. Not a moment later, Betsy appeared in the doorway.

“Emma, good you’re up.” Betsy breathed, sounding very relieved.

“Yeah,” Emma said shakily, “um, what happened while I was asleep?”

“I think the better question here is, what happened before you were asleep?” Emma looked at her grandmother with confusion, “Emma, do you know how long you were sleeping for?”

Emma shook her head weakly.

“You’ve been asleep for two days.” Emma’s mouth hung open. “It’s Saturday right now.”

“Saturday?” Emma blanched.

Betsy nodded sadly, “you gave me quite the scare Emma. I had the doctor come, you had such a high fever, and just wouldn’t wake up. I asked your nice friend, Alyssa what happened, but she didn’t know. All she said was something about a bug bite, but we couldn’t find any bug bite on you.”

Emma reached for her hand underneath the blanket, sure enough, there was no spider bite anywhere.

“You gave your friend a good scare too. You should call her and tell her you’re awake.” Betsy smiled at her granddaughter. She moved forward to hold her face in her hands, “I’m so glad you’re okay. Your glasses are on your table, I know it’s hard to see without them.”

Emma could only nod, unsure how to say ‘my vision magically healed itself’.

Betsy turned to exit the room, “I’m going to go call the doctor, make sure you talk to your friend.” She paused before she was out the doorway, “Emma, am I imagining things or are you a little taller?”

Emma opened her mouth before closing it, then opening it again, “I, I’ve been having a growth spurt?” The statement sounded more like a question she hoped her grandma would buy.

Betsy nodded slowly, “Alright dear.” With that, she left the room.

Emma let the blanket slide off her shoulders, taking another glance in her reflection in the mirror. She went over what she knew in her head, she was bit by a spider, fell asleep for two days, woke up, her eyes healed, she became fit, and grew three inches. She looked down to her hand where the bite was two days ago, sure enough, there wasn’t even a mark indicating anything had ever happened. She was _ sure _something did happen though, she remembered telling Alyssa she had been bit by something…

_ Oh my God, Alyssa. _

Emma dove for her backpack that lay at the base of her bed, digging around the front patch for her phone. It was easy to find Alyssa’s contact, Emma only had two numbers saved in her phone, and hit the call button. The phone dialed, and only rang twice before Alyssa picked up the phone,

“Emma?” Alyssa’s voice came out of the phone, she sounded scared and worried and panicked all at once.

Emma swallowed, “yeah, it’s me.”

“Oh Jesus Christ!” Alyssa exclaimed into the phone, like the world had been lifted off of her shoulders, “Oh my god you’re okay!”

_ That’s one way to put it, _ Emma thought, glancing at her useless glasses.

“Yeah, my grandma just told me what happened, I’m so sorry I scared you Alyssa.” Emma sighed in the phone.

“I knew you weren’t feeling well before we got on the bus,” Alyssa’s voice wavered, “then you fell asleep I thought you were just tired so I let you rest, but then we got back to school and you just… wouldn’t wake up.”

Emma could barely picture Alyssa shaking her body as it refused to open her eyes. Terrifying was the only word that Emma could come up with.

“I know, I’m… so sorry Alyssa. But, I’m okay now.” Emma smiled to try and make it sound sincere.

There was a pause on the line, Emma prayed Alyssa couldn’t tell that things were very very _ not _ okay.

“Promise?” Alyssa’s voice whispered.

Emma thought about telling Alyssa what was happening to her. The bright lights and the instinct that came before her grandmother came in the room, the growth spurt. She then decided that Emma Nolan had enough going for her in the ‘weird outcast’ department. She just couldn’t risk scaring away Alyssa anymore.

“Promise.”

The rest of the conversation went quickly enough. Alyssa filling Emma in on what she missed at school, reassuring her that she had all the homework she missed. The two gave quick goodbyes to each other, before ending their call.

Back to the problem at hand. Emma went to place her phone down next to her glasses, but then things went from weird to weirder.

Her phone was _ sticking _ to her hand.

“Oh hell no.” Emma hissed.

Emma shook her hand desperately, but it seemed the harder she shook her hand the more firmly it stayed on. She used her other hand to brace herself up against a wall, which proved to be a mistake, as the other hand became firmly attached to the wall. She looked between her two hands furiously, before deciding that being attached to a wall was worse than the phone. She relaxed the hand with the phone and started yanking on the one on the wall. To her surprise, once her hand relaxed, the phone slipped out of her hand and to the ground with a thud. Emma looked between the phone and the wall a couple times before drawing the conclusion that she just needed to relax. The muscles in her hands loosened as Emma breathed in and out, and eventually she was able to reclaim her hand. She held it close to her chest as her mind went back to the races. 

A spider bit her. She fell asleep like a goddamn Disney princess. Her eyes were fixed. She gained muscles not there before. She _ grew _. And now, she could stick to walls.

Wait, stick to walls. 

The realisation of the situation hit Emma like a ton of bricks. 

The spider that bit her was in the genetic engineering laboratory. That was _ not _a normal spider that had bitten her. She racked her brain for whatever information the tour guide had said but the only word that came to mind was “radioactive”. It echoed over and over in her head as the truth washed over her. Something had happened to that spider, and now whatever made that spider special was happening to her. 

Emma tiptoed over to her bedroom door that had been left open, and nudged it closed with her knee just incase her hand wanted to stick to it. Emma bit her lip as she gazed at her bedroom wall. She slid her socks off of her feet, leaving them bare on the hardwood floor. Hesitantly she put her right hand on the wall, tensing her muscles to try and get them stuck like they had before. She tried pulling, and sure enough, nothing happened. She reached her other hand above her head, getting it to sick as well. _ This is so fucked up _ was her only thought as she stuck both of her feet on the wall. She was sticking to the damn wall. She relaxed her right hand and left foot, re-sticking them to the wall higher, so she was climbing up the wall. Her new muscles made it easy to pull herself up the wall with little stress. She continued until she got to the ceiling, and after a moment of debating started to move onto the ceiling of her room. Eventually she was positioned, feet and hands on the roof, over her bed. Emma let out a breathy laugh, astonished at what she was doing. Climbing around her room like a spider, while terrifying the implications of what it meant for her, was pretty cool. Letting her guard down however, let her muscles relax, and she fell from the ceiling back onto her bed with a soft ‘thud’.

“What’s going on up there?” Her grandmother yelled from downstairs.

“Nothing!” Emma called back.

She stared at the spot on the ceiling where she was hanging a second ago. She looked down at her hands, folded in her lap neatly. She turned them around so she could stare at the palms, but something on her wrists took her attention away from her fingers.

“Oh, god, no more weird shit _ please _.” She begged to no one in particular.

Just at the base of her wrists, she noticed that there was a small indention in her skin that was not normally there. She traced the indentations lightly with her fingers, noticing a pin sized, hole in the middle of the indentation. _ That’s really gross _ she thought. Her trembling fingers pushed on the indentation harder than she would have liked, and in a second, thick spider webbing shot out of the pin sized hole on her wrist, sticking to the wall opposite her bed. Emma screeched and fell off of her bed onto the floor. 

“Emma? Do I have to come up there?” 

“No!” Emma sat up, wincing a little about desperate she sounded, “no, no. It’s fine there’s just a… spider.”

_ Little on the nose there, Emma _.

Emma looked back down to her wrist, pushing hard on the indent again to see what would happen. Luckily, it caused the string to detach from her wrist, leaving a long rope like substance attached to the wall and not her body. Emma let out a breath of relief before turning her attention to studying the web. It was as thick as a paracord rope, and seemed sturdy. Hesitantly, Emma touched it, the substance was sticker that she had thought.

Emma groaned and lay on the floor staring at her fan. Out of all the awful things that had happened to her, this was up in the top three. She lay there for a few minutes, taking in deep shaky breaths, trying her best not to sob.

She was a freak all over again. 

It was bad enough the bullying over the suspicion she was gay, or the fact that her parents didn’t really love her. Holly crap though, if _ anyone _ found out what was happening to her, she would be run out of town with pitchforks and torches. That, unless Oscorp or the Government didn’t capture her first for freaky science experiments. For the third time in Emma’s very short life, her world was crumbling down around her. 

The third time.

Emma sat up with that echoing around her, “the third time”. She had thought her life had been over twice already, once when she realised she was gay, and once when she was kicked out. And now she was going to let some weird genetic altering spider convince herself it was all over _ again _? No, she wasn’t going to do that anymore. Her life was just starting, and no fucking arachnid was going to change that for any reason.

She had work to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> awww yeah superhero stuff guys


	4. Chapter 4

The first problem she turned her attention to was her glasses. She couldn’t just stop wearing them, because her grandmother would know something was up. If she did wear them, she wouldn’t be able to see anything because she was _ blind _ before. Emma considered just popping the lenses out of the frames, but she knew her grandma would be able to tell there was nothing there, and even if her grandma didn’t, Alyssa would.

Emma sat at her desk, looking at the pink frames with rapt attention, like they were going to stand up at any minute and tell her the answer. Sighing, Emma turned on the lamp at her desk to try and get a little light in the room, as no other lights were on and the blinds were shut. Light filled the room with a click, causing Emma to screw her eyes shut. She had forgotten how bright the light was, and while it wasn’t particularly painful to look around with it on, it wasn’t pleasant either. With one hand over her eyes, Emma reached into a drawer by her desk, sure she had put a pair of sunglasses in there at some point. Her hand stuck to a few things that _ weren’t _ sunglasses, but after a while of sticking and unsticking her hands, she felt the frames of a pair of aviators she got at the dollar store once. Emma opened her eyes behind the shades, relieved at how they dimmed the light for normal eyes, but seemed to make everything look normal to her. Emma laughed to herself, if only she could wear sunglasses instead of her normal glasses… oh.

Oh.

Emma knew she wasn’t the smartest person in the world. Computer Engineering that came easy to some students went way over her head, and writing convincing essays in English class was not part of her skill set. However, if she set her mind to something, she would learn. 

Her idea was simple, figure out how to make UV resistant shades clear, and replace the frames in her glasses with the clear framed sunglasses. About an hour of google searching on how sunglasses lenses worked and how they were made, Emma gathered a supply list and went to a few stores in town. Her grandmother was out playing bingo at the retirement home with a few friends of hers, so Emma was safe to come and go as she pleased until around seven o’clock. A few sales clerks gave Emma funny looks as they saw her with aviator shades inside, but sold her everything she needed without questioning it.

Emma dumped her loot on her desk once she got home and got to work. After a few trial and error stages (she only almost caught her desk on fire _ once _), she held up a clear pair of lenes in front of her. Moment of truth, she pulled her aviators off of her face, squinting at the sudden change that bombarded her sensitive eyes, and put the two lenses to her face. Emma let out an astonished laugh as the lenses did their job, and the world looked normal with the light on. With the lenses working, she started taking apart her frames, popping the old distorting pieces of glass out and putting the new, non prescription, ones in. After placing everything back together, she placed the glasses on and looked in the mirror, looking just a little bit like herself again.

The glasses, admittedly, took longer to figure out than she thought they would. As soon as she completed them, she heard the front door of the house open. Her hairs stood on end as her instinct told her that her grandmother was coming up the stairs to check on her. Emma’s eyes darted around her room before landing on a large grey sweater that she had inherited from her grandfather before he passed. She yanked it on, satisfied with how it covered her arms and torso in an abundance of fleece fabric. Looking at her too-short jeans she did the only reasonable thing to hide the fact they were jeans. She rolled the cuffs of them up a ways, boom, capri pants. She managed to throw herself on her bed while looking at her phone unconvincingly as the door to her room opened. 

“I’m back from bingo, how are you feeling?” Before Emma had the chance to respond, Betsy reached for the lightswitch to her room and flicked it on.

Emma prepared herself for the bright light in her room to temporarily blind her, but to her absolute joy, the glasses did their job.

“Um, I’m doing… better.” Emma smiled, hoping to sound convincing about her mental state after having a mental breakdown, a personal breakthrough, and a mad science experiment in her room in the span of one day.

“That’s good, I just wanted to let you know that tomorrow I’ll be helping Ethel move her things to a different room in the retirement home, so I’ll be gone all day.”

Emma stood from her bed, “I could help.” She said earnestly, actually believing she could now more than ever.

Betsy smiled, but shook her head, “I know dear, but you’ve had a strange weekend, and I don’t want you exerting yourself until I get a concrete answer of what happened during the field trip.”

Still unwilling to tell Betsy exactly what happened to her two days ago and what the side effects were, she simply nodded her head, “okay.”

“I’m going down to watch Jeopardy, you’re welcome to join if you feel up to it,” Betsy paused looking down at Emma’s attire for the first time since she came in the room, “I didn’t know you owned any capri pants?”

“I just got them.”

That night, Emma just couldn’t sleep. To be fair, she did have a very strange day, but now her mind was swimming through what it could mean for her. I mean, at this point she was essentially a superhero, right? She didn’t feel very much like one though, it wasn’t like some moment where everything in her life suddenly made sense. In all reality, her experiences today were like a second puberty, but instead of happening over the span of two years, it happened in two days. And she was asleep for those two days. Emma knew she needed answers, and there was only one place she could get them.

Emma waited patiently for the front door to close as her grandmother left to help Ethel move. It was currently seven am, and it took thirty minutes to get to Indianappolis. Betsy had told Emma that she would be back around six pm, meaning Emma would have to be back at the house at five at the latest. So, to give herself a lot of room to make sure she got home, she told herself she would leave the city at four fifteen. 

This was fine.

Emma took the keys to the green pick up truck that sat in the driveway. It was her grandfather’s and, as soon as she got her license, it would be Emma’s. Emma technically only had her provisional license, and per state law, was only allowed to drive with her grandmother’s consent. Emma reasoned that if her grandma knew, and didn’t sell her out to the government, she would be fine with her granddaughter going to figure out what happened, so it was fine.

At around seven thirty, Emma’s truck pulled into the visitor parking lot of Oscorp labs. She stood outside the building, the hood up on her favourite jacket (which thankfully was not too small on her). She had grabbed the longest pair of jeans she owned that morning, which were still a solid two inches too short of being jeans. The chilly October air snipped at Emma’s ankles, reminding her that she needed to go to a store in the city where she could hopefully get longer pants. As much as Emma wished she could just turn around and forget about even stepping foot in the building where nightmares were made, she knew she couldn’t leave without getting some kind of answer. Taking a deep breath, she walked inside the massive skyscraper’s lobby. She stood there for a few moments, before realising one thing.

She had no idea where to start.

The building was so huge, there was just so many people. It wasn’t like Emma could just go to every person in a lab coat and go “hey something really strange happened to me because a radioactive spider bit me, do you know anyone who could help with that?” That was a really great way for Emma to become the latest science experiment. After a moment of debating, she decided to go to the last place she vividly remembered standing, the hallway where the spider bit her.

She wandered up the various levels and stopped in the place where the spider had keeled over and died after altering her life. She looked on the floor for the damn arachnid, but it wasn’t there. Emma had figured the spider must have been vacuumed up during the cleaning for the day, and was probably off in a landfill somewhere, decomposing peacefully. Ready to look somewhere else, Emma got ready to turn on her heel to look somewhere else before a voice cut through the empty and quiet hallway.

“You!” The voice called

_ Why do I have a bad feeling that’s me? _

Emma turned around to see who the voice belonged to, and stared for a moment before she realised she had seen the owner of the voice before. 

It was the tour guide from the field trip.

The blonde lady marched towards Emma, looking a lot less cheary than she had when she was leading her classmates around. She walked straight towards Emma, before backing her into the wall. Emma had grown the past two days, but she still felt three inches shorter under this lady’s piercing blue gaze.

“You’re Emma, aren’t you?” The tour guide, Sydney as her name tag read, bristled. 

“Um,” Emma stammered, “ye-yeah. T-that’s… me.”

Sydney leaned down to Emma’s ear, whispering five simple words that made Emma forget how to breathe.

“What. Happened. To. The. Spider?” 

Emma’s hazel eyes widened in terror at the intense blue gaze of the woman. She swallowed fearfully as she opened her mouth.

“It died.”

Unchecked rage flashed across the woman’s eyes.

“It bit you.” The woman stated, it wasn’t a question, but a hard fact. The woman knew what had happened.

“How do you know that?” Emma whispered, terrified about how much the woman knew about her.

“Your little friend,” Sydney spat, “coming in here wide eyed hoping to find out what was wrong with her ‘best friend’ told us you thought something had bit you.”

“Alyssa came here?” Emma questioned, suddenly fearing for Alyssa’s safety more than her own current situation.

“She’s here right now,” the woman rolled her eyes, “do you have any idea what you took away from me? Do you have any clue how important that spider was?”

Emma’s eyes went wide, before she could answer the lady’s furious questions, her hair stood on end, **Alyssa’s coming down this hall, you have to hide.**

Apparently Sydney didn’t like how quiet Emma was being. She grabbed Emma by the lapels of her jacket and slammed her against the wall.

“Answer me!” she hissed.

Emma felt the breath get knocked out of her lungs as her back made sharp contact with the wall. The moment of being slammed into the wall by her father was stirred in Emma’s head. Emma felt her breath hitch as an instinct took over her entire body. She looked into Sydney’s eyes, a clear message flashing across her hazel eyes.

_ That was a _ ** _big_ ** _ mistake lady. _

She took twisted pleasure as the woman went from being high and mighty slamming a seventeen year old into the wall to looking scared shitless. Emma brought her right hand up to make sharp contact with the woman’s face, and as she staggered back from the contact, Emma’s left hand reached for the doorknob next to her. The sign on the door said ‘Janitor's closet’. Her hand pulled on the knob, only to find it locked. Without even thinking about it, she hit the handle with her hand, breaking the knob. Right hand around the woman’s wrist, Emma pulled herself and the woman into the closet. Just in the nick of time too, as Emma heard Alyssa’s voice coming down the hallway. Emma kept her breathing as quiet as possible, ignoring the blonde bitch who was currently nursing her bloody nose. Emma nearly jumped out of her skin when the woman started talking.

“You knew she was coming.” She realised.

“Shhhh!” Emma whispered desperately, she didn’t want to have this conversation, and definitely didn’t want to have this conversation with this woman.

“You _ did _ . You broke the door knob with your _ hand _. Can you stick to walls?” The woman prompted, suddenly enamoured with Emma’s powers.

“Shut Up! She’ll hear you!” Emma whispered desperately, avoiding the question.

“Have you stung anything yet?” 

“Have I _ what? _” Great, another freaky thing she had to watch out for.

“Oh! Have you been able to produce webs yet?” She asked eagerly.

Frustrated, Emma huffed, “I’m going to web your mouth _ shut _ if you don’t be quiet!”

“But-” Sydney started.

Good on her word, Emma pushed the sleeve of her jacket up slightly and aimed a small web at the woman’s face. The woman’s eyes went wide with shock before she tried to pull it off. Knowing she would start yelling once she got it off, Emma wrestled the woman to where she stood behind her covering her mouth. Sydney struggled with Emma as Emma listened outside the door as Alyssa’s voice became more and more distant. Emma released the woman from her grasp with a relieved sigh as she slid to the floor. The teen sat with her head in her hands, wondering what to do next. Sydney probably had a few ideas of what to do next, she yanked the web off of her mouth. Her mouth opened to yell something at Emma, but she was cut off by the door to the closet opening. 

Emma looked up to the person in the door, frozen like a deer in the headlights. The situation didn’t look good for any outsider, Sydney standing over Emma with a bloody nose, Emma flushed from holding her breath sitting exhausted on the ground, various cleaning supplies on the ground from the two wrestling, and, of course, the broken doorknob. Emma scrambled up from the ground to look at the person standing in the doorframe. It was a tall man, his hair and long beard greying due to his age. He wore a long white lab coat, simple blue jeans and shoes Emma could only describe as ‘old man shoes’. His eyes were a brilliant green, glinting with mischief as he looked between the woman and teenager behind his small framed circular glasses.

“Boss,” the woman said, grabbing Emma by her arm, “I found out what happened to the spider.”

The man looked at Emma curiously, “it appears you have.”

_ Great, another person finding out about me, _ Emma thought.

“I was thinking we could take her back to the lab and dissect her to find out what the spider did to her genetics.” Sydney suggested, a little too eager at the prospect of murdering Emma.

Emma’s eyes widened as she started struggling against the woman’s grasp on her arm.

“Let’s fucking _ not _.” Emma snapped as she tried to rip her arm out of Sydney’s death grip.

The man seemed un-bothered by Sydney’s suggestion, and Emma’s struggles. 

“Thank you Miss Shelton, but that won’t be necessary.” He said, reaching into his lab coat, pulling out a small silver pen, “Miss Nolan, avert your eyes for a moment. Miss Shelton could you look this way for me?”

Not questioning the man’s instructions, Emma turned away from the man, screwing her eyes shut. Emma heard the woman start to ask ‘why?’ before she heard a noise that sounded like an old fashioned camera go off. Emma felt the hand on her arm loosen, so she turned around and opened her eyes.

“Miss Shelton, you had quite a fall down this hall. You’re lucky Miss Nolan was here to help you up. Why don’t you go to the bathroom to clean up?” The man was talking to Sydney. She nodded her head, seemingly confused as to where she was, before walking down the hallway, turning to where Emma assumed the restroom was.

Emma stared at amazement down the hallway where the woman was a moment ago.

The man put the pen back in his coat, “you don’t have to worry about her. She was always a little on the strange side, I’ll fire her later.”

“But she was just-” Emma lamely just pointed down the hallway.

“She doesn’t remember any of that,” the man said with a glint in his eye, “I erased her memory. As far as she knows, she was walking down the hallway, fell and bumped her nose, and you helped her off the floor.”

Emma nodded slowly, taking in the man’s face. Trying to figure out if he was friend or foe. To her surprise, he simply smiled at her warmly, rivaling a smile from her grandma or Alyssa.

“Emma Nolan, you are one extraordinary girl.” He put a supportive hand on her shoulder, “I suppose you have a lot of questions about what’s happening to you.”

Emma nodded, “who _ are _ you?” 

“I’m Doctor Edwin Lohst.” He said, “I’m the man who made the spider that bit you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're getting into the thick of it now guys.


	5. Chapter 5

Emma followed Dr Lohst down through the building to his office. She walked in as he closed the door behind her. As soon as the door shut with a click Emma whirled around to face him. Before she knew it, she was yelling at the man.

“What the fuck do you mean ‘you made the spider’? Were you planning for it to go around biting seventeen year old lesbians who are already the freak show of their town? Do you know how screwed I am? H-how I can never tell anyone about this? Do you-” Emma sucked in a shaky breath, tears threatening to spill out of her eyes as she ranted her feelings out loud, “d-do you know h-how…  _ scared _ I am?”

Emma looked up to the man she had just yelled at. He looked taken aback by Emma’s rant, but the surprise in his eyes was soon taken over by sympathy.

“Sit down Emma.” He instructed.

Numbly, Emma trudged over to the seat in front of Dr Lohst’s desk. She sat and looked at him as he slowly took his own seat. He took a deep breath before starting to talk.

“Emma, do you know who the Raid Gang is?”

She nodded her head. The Raid Gang were a group of criminals who worked in Indianapolis, they went around to other cities in Indiana, as well as small towns in Indiana. They did every bad thing in the book, robbing stores and houses, setting businesses on fire, kidnapping small kids and dumping them on the side of the highway, lost and alone looking for someone to help them. Emma swallowed. Recently going out and hunting down members of the LGBT community.

“Well, two weeks ago, two members came into this office.” Emma stared at him, hoping this wasn’t going where she thought this was going, “they came in and told me that they had tabs on my wife, daughter, and grandchildren. They said that if I didn’t comply they were going to kill all of them. When I asked them what they wanted, they said they wanted a way for their members to be… I guess the word to describe it was ‘superhuman’. They needed them to be strong, inscrutable, and versatile. I guessed ‘like a spider’. So to keep my family safe, I got to work altering a spider that, when biting a human, would be able to alter the human’s DNA.”

Emma’s head started spinning, the words slamming into her chest making her heart go absolutely nuts.

“Last Wednesday, I thought I had perfected it. So I contacted them to tell them it was ready and available the next day. However, when they came by Thursday afternoon, the spider was gone. I told them I had no idea where it was, and they told me I had three days to figure out where it went. I went through the security footage. Emma, your classmates are not very kind.”

Emma chuckled, “I’ll say.”

“I saw that during a high school tour, one of your classmates took the jar where the spider was, and put it on you.”

_ Oh god _

“That spider that bit you altered your DNA Emma. Something I hadn’t anticipated was the spider dying after biting a human. I got the body, and decided to burn the thing. It’s gone. But you’re still here.”

Emma looked at the Doctor, who was leaning forward on his desk. 

“Emma, I can’t change the mistake I made for listening to those men, I should have gone to the police, or moved my family far away. I can’t change what I did to you, but I am so relieved the spider decided to bite you instead of one of those evil men. You can change the tides against that gang, you can save people. People like you.”

“People like me?” Emma questioned.

The doctor leaned back in his seat, “you did say you were a lesbian, didn’t you?”

Emma flashed back to when she yelled at the doctor, “oh yeah, I did, didn’t I?”

Dr Lohst smiled and reached into a drawer, he pulled out a flash drive, a striking blue and red colour.

“This has all of my notes on the experiment, all of the potential side effects, physical and mental changes that I predicted.” He reached over the desk to hand it to Emma, “it’s yours now, look through it, memorize it.”

Emma hesitantly took it from his hand, the back of it labeled ‘the spider-man project’

“Spider Man?” Emma raised an eyebrow.

“I guess it’s Spider Woman now,” he said, winking playfully. He paused, grounding himself, before looking at Emma very seriously, “you can stop all of this Emma. I know this is a lot of pressure to put on a seventeen year old, but just from talking to Miss Greene, I can tell that that spider bit the right person.”

Emma opened to say something along the lines of either, ‘how much did you tell Alyssa about me?’ or ‘thanks a million, you are now my adoptive father’, but was cut off by a commotion going on in the hallway outside of the office. Her hair stood on end again, this time her instinct only brought on one word  **Danger.**

“We have to get out of here.” Emma stated, rising urgently from her chair.

“Ah, your spider sense is working.” The doctor smiled.

“My what?” Emma asked, “nevermind, we gotta go.”

The doctor smiled sadly, “there’s no time, hide in here.”

He ushered Emma to a cabinet on the wall of the office. He opened the door as Emma climbed in.

“I can’t believe I’m going back in the closet.” Emma muttered, earning a chuckle from Dr Lohst. He started to close the door, but couldn’t get it closed before Emma stopped him, “What are you doing? You can’t stay out there! It’s dangerous.”

Dr Lohst smiled sadly, “It’s The Raid, they can’t find out you’re here.”

“That’s more reason why you need to hide too!” Emma pleaded, “they’ll kill you when they find out the spider’s dead!”

“Emma.” Dr Lohst stopped her pleading, “I’m going to talk to them. I’m done being afraid of them. Whatever happens Emma, you stay here until they are gone. Do you understand?”

“Y-yes.” Emma’s voice wavered, a tear slipping down her cheek.

“Promise me you’ll stay here.” Emma stayed silent, “promise me Emma.”

Before she could protest more, Emma just followed his instruction, “I promise.”

Dr Lohst smiled before closing the door to the closet. The way the doors lined up, Emma could still see out of a crack in the doors. She stood, still and terrified as Dr Lohst sat on the front of his desk, arms crossed definitely as the door to his office swung open.

“Where is it?” A gruff man spoke, out of sight to Emma.

“Gone,” The doctor said, “it died.”

“Make a new one then.” The man growled.

Emma’s heart sank to the floor as the doctor replied simply, “no.”

The man moved to the doctor, entering Emma’s line of sight. He was huge, dark hair, and a terrifying five o’clock stubble.

“What did you just say?” He growled.

“I said no.” The doctor said simply, “I will not support the killing of innocent people. You are on your own.”

The man glared, “your family will pay for this.”

“Good luck finding them, they’re all on vacation. Outside of Indiana. I don’t even know where they are.”

The man bristled, and Emma’s hair stood on end again.  **Gun** .

In a moment, a gun was pulled on Doctor Lohst. For a brief moment, fear flashed in his eyes, but was replaced with a defiant glow. 

“Go ahead, just remember,” the doctor moved closer to the barrel of the gun, “you will  _ never _ win.”

BANG! 

Emma’s hand flew to her mouth to cover up her shout. Tears spilled out of her eyes as Dr Lohst crumbled to the ground. The man sniffed, unconcerned about gunning down an innocent man. The shot caused an alarm to go off in the building, signaling people to start evacuating. The Raid member kicked Dr Lohst for good measure before slipping out of the office. Emma stumbled out of the closet as soon as the door closed behind the man. Breathing heavily Emma darted over to Dr Lohst. She knelt beside his motionless body, turning him on his back so she could assess the damage.  _ Oh god, there’s so much blood _ . Emma trembled as she tried to compress the wound like she learned in her first aid class. He was shot right in the stomach, and it must have hit something important because it just wouldn’t stop bleeding.

“Mr Lohst?” Emma cried, “please Mr Lohst, please stay awake.”

Dr Lohst’s eyes fluttered open partially, making Emma breathe out in relief.

“You’re going to be okay, please just stay…” Emma’s words were cut of by an involuntary sob. He couldn’t die, he couldn’t. He was Emma’s only chance to understand what was happening to her. He had a  _ family _ for christ’s sake. 

“Emma,” He whispered, “It's okay.”

“No,” She sobbed, “no, no it’s not. I-It's not  _ fair _ .”

“That’s how it is Emma,” He smiled reassuringly, pain behind his eyes, “what happened to you wasn’t fair either. Life isn’t fair.”

Emma sobbed at his words, “j-just stay awake!”

Dr Lohst smiled, he reached his hand up to her face, tucking some stray blonde locks behind her ear, “you remind me of my granddaughter, you both have such a fire inside of you.” He coughed violently, “Emma, you are going to do such great things. Promise me something Emma.”

Emma’s body trembled, “what?”

“Promise me,” he was fading fast, “promise me you’ll stop them. Don’t let them hurt anyone else. Promise me you’ll protect people.”

Emma sobbed at his request, “I’m not that brave, I can’t even stand up to people who bully me. I’m  _ not  _ brave.”

He laughed at that, “you are so much braver than you realise. They are bullying everyone, this will be a good lesson on how to stand up to bullies.”

Emma nodded, the weight of the world pressing down on her shoulders, “okay, I promise.”

Dr Lohst smiled, “I believe in you Emma, go get ‘em kid.”

He breathed in, then out, but he didn’t breathe in again.

Emma’s body racked with sobs, she couldn’t save him, how could she save anyone? She could have done something, tackle the man, web up the gun, but she just stood there and let it happen. How could she have let this happen? Shakily, she brought her fingers to his eyelids, and closed them. She sobbed over the lifeless body, feeling an unbearable pressure on her chest, feeling solely responsible for letting this happen. 

Gunshots cut off her thoughts. That man was still in the building, he still had that gun. She looked to the doctor, her promise to not let the Raid hurt anyone else echoing in her mind. ‘I believe in you.’ No one ever believed in her, she had to prove that he was right for doing so. 

Patting the flash drive in her jean pockets, she rose from the ground, a woman on a mission. She left the office and booked it down the hallway. A plan, she needed a plan. Okay, step one, find the man.

Step one wasn’t very hard, she followed the sound of yelling and the occasional pop of a gunshot. He was standing in the middle of the main lobby, Emma was on the fifth floor, looking down the balcony towards where he stood. People scurried around him to get to the doors. He seemed to only be firing shots into the air and not at people. It also seemed that everyone was on the first floor, meaning everyone was close to being evacuated. 

Step two, wait until everyone was out of the building. She reasoned that if everyone was out of the building, the less chance there was of a stray bullet hitting someone. 

Step three, um. Emma racked her brain for what to do once everyone left. How long did she have before he went outside? How was she even planning on taking him down? She didn’t know how to fight! Even if she did take him down, what would she do afterwards? Call the police? Finish him herself?

A gunshot cut off her train of thought. Nervous hazel eyes peered over the balcony towards the lobby. There was no person in sight besides the Raid man. He paced through the lobby for a moment before heading for the front doors. There was no time to think of step three, Emma had to stop him from exiting the building. Without a rational bone in her body, Emma climbed on top of the balcony.

“Hey dipshit!” She called down.

The man turned to look at her, not pausing for a moment before he took aim at Emma and fired. Thinking quick, Emma shot a web towards level four and jumped. She swung to safety, almost. She missed the third floor landing, instead having to stick to the balcony of the third floor. She turned towards the man, who was staring at her in amazement. Amazement turned into rage.

“You!” He growled. 

“Yeah me,” Emma shot back.

“I’m going to kill you, you little brat!” He yelled taking aim at her again.

Okay, step three, don’t die.

Emma released herself from the third floor balcony as a bullet shattered the glass where she was a moment ago. Her ‘spider sense’ went off again,  **his gun only has two more bullets** . 

Okay cool, step four, dodge two more bullets. Don’t let him reload after that. 

She shot a web to swing to the other side of the building. Emma was about to stick safety of the second floor balcony, but the second to last bullet of the gun went off, missing her, but cutting the web instead. Emma fell out of the sky before tumbling to the ground rolling across the tile floor. She regained her composure in time to see the last bullet fire. Emma let instinct take over, backflipping out of the way of the bullet. The man raised the gun to Emma again, only for it to click lamely as he pulled the trigger.

Emma smirked in satisfaction as his eyes met hers.

“My turn.” She taunted. 

In a moment, she grabbed the gun out of his hand with a flick of a web. She yanked it out of his hand and into her own. Looking him dead in the eye, she rose from the ground, crushing the gun into small metal bits in her hands. 

“Oops.” Emma snarled, “looks like I broke it.”

With a yell, the burly man charged towards Emma, unhinged rage written across his face. Taking a fighting stance, Emma prayed to whatever God was out there. The man swung his right hand, making Emma dodge left, she brought her own punch up to his face, knocking him square in the jaw. The man staggered due to the force, but the punch only seemed to make him angrier. Punches and kicks flew in breakneck speeds. Emma dodged and hit, but nothing seemed to wear on this guy. Emma became more and more frustrated as the fought drug on, the man relentless on crushing the teenager with his bare hands. 

You know, Emma was having a rough couple of days. She got spider powers, made her best friend and grandmother have simultaneous heart attacks while she slept for two days, freaked out about said spider powers, went to the city to find answers, got assaulted by an evil tour guide, found a mentor, then proceed to lose said mentor to the terminator man who was currently pounding on her. In short, Emma had had it up to ‘here’ with the bull shit in her life. 

Shaking with rage, Emma dodged the hands that flew to her. The turmoil of the weekend racked her brain with every punched her dodged. So caught up in the fight, Emma didn’t even notice her hands buzz with electricity. In a moment, Emma jumped over the man, and with as much force as she could, she pushed him with all her strength. The force of the push and energy of the electricity sent the man flying across the room. His limp body skidded off of the glossy tile floor, only stopping when the body collided against a pillar on the opposite side of the room.

Emma stood trembling, her arms still cast out in front of her, breathing heavily due to the physical exterition.  _ Oh my god _ , she thought,  _ I killed him _ . At least she thought she did, a low groan of pain coming from the man made Emma sigh with relief. He was still alive, just really really hurt. Carefully, Emma tiptoed over to the limp body. Careful to not get attacked again, Emma pushed him to his back with her shoe, flinching as he groaned in pain again. His eyes were closed, but he was still breathing normally. His hair was singed, small flashes of electricity tumbled off of him randomly.

Her breathing became rigid as she wondered what to do next. She couldn’t waltz out of the building, people would see her. Not to mention the police were probably on their way, and Dr Lohst’s blood on her hands wouldn’t make her look entirely innocent. She would also have to figure out how to answer how a scrappy teen took down a six foot monster. A million different scenarios played out in her head, each ending with her either being arrested, or being experimented on like Sydney had suggested. The sound of sirens broke her thoughts. Emma had to get out of there. Webbing the roof, Emma pulled herself up to the fifth floor, hiding behind the balcony as she heard the police burst through the front doors of the buildings. She had remembered seeing an emergency exit stairwell on the fifth floor during the tour. Quietly, she slipped down the hallway, opening the emergency exit door slowly, before booking it down the staircase and through the out door to the windy October air. With her hood up, Emma slipped through the crowd that had gathered around the building, the sound of various sirens cutting through her ears as she retreated into her pickup.

Clambering into the driver’s seat, she sat stiff, trying to assess if she was really safe. It seemed as though she was, for now, as all the people around her were either trying to retreat into cars of their own or were trying to view what was happening at Oscorp Labs. Her shaking fingers ran through her hair as sharp tears stung her eyes. The spider that had bitten her had altered her DNA. The only person who understood what was happening was dead. She had let Dr Lohst  _ die _ . Tears rolled down her face as she tried to comprehend his family’s reactions. His children, or his grandchildren. His wife. All broken by the fact that the person they loved was harshly taken away from them. Emma sobbed. It was all her fault.

She let herself decompress for a while, crying alone in her car. Nobody on the street paid attention to her, letting her get her grief out all at once. After a while, when Emma felt she had no more tears, she pulled out her phone to check the time, it was around four o’clock, she had to get home soon. Slowly setting her phone in her cup holder, she pulled out her keys, only to have the blue and red flash drive fall out at the same time. Sliding the keys into the ignition, she studied the flash drive with her other hand. Dr Lohst had said to her that she was going to do great things, that she was going to save a lot of people. When he had said that, Emma just wasn’t convinced she could, she already had a hard enough time fitting in as it was. But now, something about Dr Lohst’s parting words made Emma, want to. She wanted to help people like her, wanted to make her home safer, for her grandma and for Alyssa. 

Emma let herself smile at the thought of Alyssa. She had traveled all the way into the city, probably without her mom’s permission too, just to try and find out if Emma was going to be okay. Emma smiled at the thought of Alyssa rambling on to Dr Lohst, something she did when she was nervous. 

Yeah, she was going to make her home better, for Alyssa and her grandma. And most of all, she wanted to do it for Dr Lohst, for him believing in her even though he barely knew her. 

“Don’t worry Dr Lohst,” Emma whispered, starting her car, “I won’t let them win.”


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

In all of the excitement and terrifying fear that came from vowing yourself a superhero, Emma had forgotten one important detail.

Fucking School.

Not only after being mentaly broken when she had gotten home from her city run, Emma had to do two days worth of homework that she had missed from the field trip on Thursday and being comatosed on Friday. _ I almost die, and they still expect me to read up on Shakespeare _, Emma thought bitterly as she read the passage in Macbeth that she hadn’t read with the class on Friday. Betsy had some to ask Emma if she was okay to go to school the next day, and while Emma’s mind screamed that she wasn’t, Emma said yes anyway. There was no denying what was going to happen at school, she would be ridiculed (well, more so than usual) as she was sure everyone knew about her cat nap that lasted two days. She would have to go around ignoring sideways glances and conversations she couldn’t hear. Worst of all, she would have to go around pretending that everything was 100% okay with her. Pretend that she didn’t witness a murder, almost get pounded to death, and then almost murder said guy in return. Going to school was inevitable, but she was going to have to endure it. It would be bad, but Emma was sure she could handle it, it’s not like it could get worse.

_ Oh no, this is worse _ , Emma thought, as she walked down the hall Monday morning, _ this is so much worse _.

Emma could handle the secret conversations about her, she had been handling them fine for the past three or so years. What she could not handle, was actually being able to hear the conversations. The students had always talked so quietly that Emma couldn’t hear whatever homophobic or mean things they were saying. But now, due to her new fangled super hearing, Emma could hear _ every _ conversation _ all _ at once. Bits and fragments popped in and out as she shuffled down the hall, her head low.

“Oh my god, I thought she was dead-”

“What a freak-”

“Wish she would’ve just stayed asleep-”

“I would’ve transferred-”

“God she looks so pale-”

“Like she never gets sun-”

“-faggot-”

Emma had to bite back the strangled shout she felt forming in the back of her throat. Everyone was just too _ damn loud _. It was like the lights in the lab when she had gotten bit only a million times worse because the lights didn’t point out everything wrong with her. The lights didn’t slur at her and make her feel like hiding but also beating the crap out of anyone who so much as glanced her way, at the same time. There must have been some rational bone in Emma’s body because instead of deciding to get into a fight on her first day back (and winning) she decided to go to the one place there was no noise unless she made it.

The door to the band closet closed with a satisfying click as Emma slid her back against the door to the ground. Emma initially made herself busy picking at the loose threads of her grey sweater, that, while did a good job of covering her body, made everything very very hot. Pressing her hands against her forehead, she vowed that the first power she needed to master was the hearing, because she can’t go another day down the hallway like that again. She rubbed her temples trying to dull the throb in her head that had formed from listening to everyone at once, when she felt the door move behind her back. She scrambled away from the door, internaly cursing while simultaneously taking a note that her ‘spider sense’ doesn’t seem to work if she’s overwhelmed. 

Fearing who may have found her hiding spot, Emma pressed herself against the opposite wall, trying to make herself as small as possible so the intruder would look over her. 

“Emma?”

A flood of relief washed over Emma as she looked up to the doorway. Standing there, the fluorescent lights surrounding her like a goddamn angel, was Alyssa Greene.

“Emma?” Alyssa repeated when Emma said nothing, “Are you okay?”

Overtaken by the sensation that everything was _ not okay _, Emma launched forward to wrap Alyssa in a hug. The force of the hug caused Alyssa to let go of the door, letting it close once again. Alyssa stood ridgid for a moment, causing Emma to question if hugging her was overstepping some kind of boundary. All of the doubt melted away when Alyssa laughed lightly before pulling her arms around Emma’s neck to return the hug. The two stood there for a minute, Emma’s hearing focusing solely on Alyssa’s heartbeat. Emma felt the dull throbbing in her head retreat as her ears seemed to be only interested in the consistent pounding of Alyssa’s heart. 

Emma pulled away from the hug first, to try and keep things from becoming too awkward. She smiled lightly at the shorter teen, only then realising that, while she was taller than Alyssa before, her extra inches meant she now had to really look down to meet her gaze. Alyssa returned Emma’s shy smile, making it all the more confusing for Emma when Alyssa unlooped her arms from Emma’s neck and punched her in the arm.

“Ow!” Emma exclaimed, letting go of Alyssa to rub her arm. In reality, the punch didn’t really hurt, but Emma could tell that Alyssa put everything she had into that punch, and not reacting would look a little suspicious on Emma’s part. Also, the ‘ow’ was more from a place of surprise cause Alyssa _ just punched her in the arm _.

“Oh god, sorry!” Alyssa exclaimed, looking immediately guilty for what she’d done, “it’s just… you _ scared _ me Emma.”

Emma softened at Alyssa’s words. She had known Alyssa for a while now, and one thing that Alyssa never liked to admit was when she was scared. Alyssa had claimed that it was just because she wasn’t scared, but Emma knew better. Alyssa never admitted she was scared because being scared was a weakness, and Mrs Greene did not like any weakness.

“I know,” Emma started, looking at her shoes, “I didn’t mean to. I… I’m not entirely sure what… came over me.” 

A lie, she did know. Emma just was too afraid of telling Alyssa what it ment.

Alyssa moved her hand to Emma’s face, gently guiding it to meet her gaze.

“I tried to get you answers, I did, but…” Alyssa’s words drifted off before settling on what to say next, “no one at the lab knew what could have happened to you.”

Emma held back a sigh of relief. Dr Lohst hadn’t told Alyssa what had happened. Just another thing Emma would have to thank him for if she ever got to see him again. Instead of sighing, Emma acted surprised.

“You, went back to the lab to ask what had happened?” Emma questioned.

Alyssa blushed, “yeah. After you woke up I, took a bus to the lab while my mother was at work. But they didn’t know anything.”

Emma’s heart was set aflutter again by the thought of Alyssa caring so much about her she went to see if the lab had answers. She tried to fight the blush that spread across her cheeks, to little success as she felt the heat rush to her face.

“Thank you,” Emma said earnestly, “seriously, there isn’t anyone else at this entire school who would do that for me.”

Alyssa smiled shyly, “it’s no problem. I just wanted to make sure you were alright. You mean a lot to me _ bestie _.”

Emma chuckled at Alyssa’s sarcastic use of the word ‘bestie’. She felt her gaze being moved to match Alyssa’s again, the seriousness in her eyes made Emma swallow heavily.

“You are sure you are okay? You’re not going to pass out on me again?” Alyssa questioned, care, worry, and sadness pouring from her eyes.

Emma smiled, hoping Alyssa wouldn’t notice the fear of being caught behind her eyes, “I promise, no more passing out on you.”

Alyssa pulled Emma into a hug, sighing contently, “Good.”

Emma began to wrap her arms around her, only for Alyssa to swat them away as she pulled back from the hug. Her eyes looked Emma up and down, making Emma shrink back from her intense studying gaze.

“W-what?” Emma stuttered, flustered from the attention of Alyssa’s stare.

“I-uhm, mmmm…” Alyssa trailed off despite not having said a word. Eventually, after a moment of staring, she gathered her thoughts again, “Emma, is it just me, or have you gotten taller?”

“Oh well- umm…” Emma stuttered, her internal monolouge wouldn’t stop repeating fuck over and over agiain, “I-I, um, think it’s just you.”

“Uh-huh.” Alyssa said, clearly unconvinced. Lucky for Emma, she didn’t push the subject, simply opting to move over to the door, she cracked it slightly, letting all of the conversations outside infiltrate the small room and Emma’s ears, “I’m going to go to my homeroom, I’ll see you during lunch, yeah?”

Emma nodded in response, the noises from her classmates already causing the throb in her head to return. Either Alyssa didn’t pick up on Emma’s sudden change of mood, or she ignored it.

“Remember,” Alyssa smiled, sunny and happy, “you got me.”

Emma forced a smile, “y-yeah.”

With that, Alyssa slipped out of the room and down the hall. Leaving Emma to walk to English alone. Alyssa saying that Emma always had her, gave her an idea. While traveling down the hall, Emma didn’t try and close her ears, instead she opened them to one thing in particular, Alyssa’s heartbeat. It was easy for her to pick up on it, she had heard it so many times. Focusing on her heart and her heart alone, Emma was able to walk down the hall without having to tear her ears off. Since her hearing was so good, she was able to hear Alyssa’s heart anywhere. Emma pushed down the voice in the back of her head that told her what she was doing was extremely weird and creepy. It wasn’t like Emma _ wanted _ to listen to Alyssa’s heartbeat, she just needed something to focus on. Nothing weird about that, it was just like listening to a clock, it was fine.

She was fine.

Well, she _ was _ fine.

Chemistry rolled around, and Emma was having a perfectly content time looking at the back of Alyssa’s dark curls, and listening to her heartbeat more than she was listening to the teacher. Before Emma knew it, the teacher’s lecture was done, and Emma had barely taken any notes. _ Well damn, chemistry tutoring is gonna be hard today _. Emma defeatedly put her notebook back in her bag, wondering what excuse she could make up to tell Alyssa why she hadn’t been paying attention. The students chatted, which luckily Emma wasn’t able to hear all of, but a loud voice in the classroom made everyone look up from what they were doing.

“Whoa! Did you guys hear what happened at Oscorp Labs on Sunday?” A guy in their class shouted, looking up from the news article he was reading on his phone. 

The students murmured amongst themselves, seeing if anyone knew what the guy was talking about. Well all of the students except Emma, who was frozen in her seat, one thought flashing across her mind.

_ Shit. _

“Yeah,” the guy continued, reading from his phone, “there was a Raid gang member at the labs, he shot one of the doctors there.”

Emma’s heart lept in her throat over the thought of Dr Lohst, and how he was gunned down. She really didn’t need to be reliving this right now.

The sad murmurs of the class prompted the guy to continue reading the article, “yeah the Raid guy knocked the cameras out, so no one knows what happened to him after he shot the guy. All they know is that the man gunned the doctor down, then went into the lobby and started firing in the air. But when the police got there, the man was out cold. Someone had sent so much electricity through his body he was put in a coma.”

Emma swallowed hard as the class erupt into shocked whispers.

“That’s not even the weirdest part.” the boy continued, “the police also found the gun the man used, except the gun had been crushed, with what they believe to be someone’s bare hands.”

_ My bare hands _, Emma thought panicking.

“And since everyone who worked in the building was accounted for, there’s no telling who it was. All the police have to go on is a record saying the emergency exit door in the back of the building was opened two minutes after the police entered the building, and an eye witness saying they saw a young man in a green jacket with his hood up exit the area where the door leads out around the same time.”

_ A YOUNG MAN? _ Emma bristled at that. _ I don’t look like a guy _, she thought bitterly as she slumped into her seat. All around her she could pick up on excited conversations about the ‘mystery man’.

“So brave!”

“A gun with his bare hands?”

“Ridiculously strong-”

“Might be conected with murder-”

“I bet he’s super hot.”

Emma’s head snapped up with that one. She saw Kaylee excitedly whispering to Shelby and Alyssa, the later looking very uninterested in where the conversation was heading. She heard Kaylee and Shelby giggle about the “mystery man”, only causing Emma to gag a little because little did they know they were actually talking about _ her _. 

The bell rang loud and sharp through the chemistry classroom, signaling the beginning of lunch. Emma skipped out on the cafeteria that day, instead heading straight towards the band closet. For some reason, she didn’t feel all that hungry. Emma let herself skim over her very short chemistry notes before Alyssa walked in the door. 

“Afternoon Sleeping Beauty.” Alyssa greated cheekily, sitting next to Emma with her school lunch in tow.

“Oh we’re making jokes about it now?” Emma raised an eyebrow.

Alyssa shrugged, opening her milk carton, “you said you were fine. You can’t expect to be comatose for two days and me _ not _ tease you.”

Emma smiled, as far as she was concerned, Alyssa was the only person who could tease her now and not get a super strong punch to the face.

“Yeah, yeah, I suppose that makes you my knight in shining armour then?”

Alyssa nodded matter-of-factly, “yes it does. You may now address me as Her Knightship Alyssa Greene, defender of the Sleeping Chemistry prodigy.”

Emma snorted, laughing for the first time since the field trip, she bumped Alyssa’s shoulder playfully.

“You’re dumb.” She cackled.

Alyssa pushed her back, “_ you’re _ dumb.”

They pushed each other back and forth for a while, trading good natured insults before dissolving into laughter. Unable to contain herself, Emma might have pushed a little _ too _ hard, knocking Alyssa off balance so she was on the floor on her back. Emma froze, expecting Alyssa to get mad, but to her surprise it only made Alyssa laugh harder. That in turn made Emma laugh harder. So caught up in laughter over their own stupid insults, Emma and Alyssa didn’t notice how their laughter made them lose their balance, and how when Emma laughed harder, it made her slowly sink to the floor. Before either of them knew it, Emma lay on top of Alyssa, her head resting on her chest. It took the two a few moments after the laughter had died down for them to realise how close they were to each other. Emma was the first to notice, as she took notice of how much louder Alyssa’s heartbeat was. 

_ That’s because your ear is to her chest dipshit _, Emma’s own thoughts snapped at her. She opened her eyes fully from their half closed from laughing state, blushing furiously about their position. At the same moment, Alyssa became aware of the weight on her chest, heat spreading through her body, but mostly her face. Emma scrambled off of Alyssa as fast as she could, returning to her sitting position, leaving a few inches between her and Alyssa for good measure. Emma started to talk before Alyssa could try.

“Sorry Alyssa, I-I didn’t mean to- make you… uncomfortable. I wasn’t t-thinking… or like, yeah. I-I’m sorry.” Emma folded her hands in her lap to make herself as small as possible. She caught a look at Alyssa out of the corner of her eye. Alyssa was staring at the wall, her posture stiff and straight. A million emotions seemed to cross her eyes, so quickly it was hard for Emma to process what they were. Alyssa shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts, making Emma cast her gaze back to her lap.

“I-it’s okay.” Alyssa stuttered. Emma looked up to her face, Alyssa’s cheeks were flushed red, but the look in her eyes was sincere and beautiful and just so _ Alyssa _.

Emma nodded, swallowing her thoughts, “well, maybe we should get started on Chemistry.”

Emma reached to pick up her notebook, but was stopped by Alyssa’s hand. 

“Maybe,” Alyssa paused swallowing, “maybe we don’t have to do any chemistry today.”

Emma’s eyebrows raised, “really?”

Alyssa nodded, “I just wanna talk. You know, like friends do?” Alyssa paused, like she was wondering if she should bother with her next words, “like we do?”

Emma smiled, remembering that she and Alyssa were friends, always. 

“Of course.” Emma said, adding a quick “as you wish.”

Alyssa snorted, “Seriously? Princess Bride?”

Emma feigned shock, “Alyssa Greene! The Princess Bride is a classic! Are you implying that you do not like it?”

The conversationed continued for the rest of lunch, as normally as it would. Emma couldn’t help but flash every now and then to having her head on Alyssa’s chest again, listening to her heartbeat as loudly as possible. Emma also couldn’t help but being a little out there, as the events of the weekend were still fresh in her mind, and loud noises outside of the door ended up getting a couple reactions out of her. She ignored Alyssa’s concerned glances when that happened, pretending instead that nothing had bothered her in the first place. 

The rest of school dragged on, more of Emma feeling like a total outcast. Which, while it wasn’t anything new, still sucked, because now she could hear every awful thing her peers said about her. Needless to say, Emma practically ran out of school to her car. Ignoring some fun comments such as ‘where you rushing off to? Finaly find another fag to date?’, she reached her beat up pickup in record time. Emma desperately tugged her suffocating sweater off before starting the car and taking off to her house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's some of that Emma/Alyssa stuff that I had promised in the tags


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Nervously, Emma stared at the flash drive on her desk. It was just inches away from her computer, and the words ‘the spider man project’ seemed to glare ominously back at her. Taking in a deep breath, reasoning that Emma had a finite amount of time before Grandma Nolan would be back from the grocery store, Emma sat at the desk, inserting the flash drive into her, ahem, well loved laptop. Her leg bounced anxiously as the flash drive talked to the computer, a loading screen showing the progress of the documents being loaded. Eventually, the progress bar reached 100%, pulling up a document neatly set up as a lab report. Emma looked at the page count and groaned at the number, slamming her head on the desk.

The document was 40 pages long, single spaced. 

Shoving her blonde locks behind her ears, Emma started to comb through the report. She started making a list, dividing the ability into either “Got it” or “Don’t got it yet”. Things like shooting webs, spider sense, climbing walls, increased endurance, extreme durability, increased limberness, acrobatic skills, and stinging, or rather shooting electricity out of her hands, went into the Got It pile. A lot of the abilities that were in the document were listed as “entirely speculatory” by Dr Lohst, which Emma interpreted as “probably won’t happen but I’ll write it down anyway”. At least, that what Emma hopped it ment, she really didn’t want to grow fangs or learn how to summon an army of spiders. All of the “entirely speculatory” abilities went into the “Don’t got it yet” pile, which Emma eventually renamed the “Don’t got it” list.

Something about going through the report made Emma feel a little closer to Dr Lohst. She thought it was funny that Dr Lohst always spelt really simple words like, ‘answer’, ‘because’, and ‘important’ wrong. Such a smart man, yet couldn’t spell third grade words. 

When going through the report, Emma couldn’t help but think about how lucky she was that the man had knocked out the cameras in the Lab. If he hadn’t Emma would have definitely been captured doing all of the stuff the report was describing. She reasoned if she was going to keep this up, she was going to need some sort of disguise. Before she knew it, small doodles were sprouting in the margins of her notes, different types of masks, various sweaters or t-shirts were sprawled across the paper. All seemed to have one thing in common, red and blue. Not just because she only had a blue and red pen, but those were the colours of the flash drive, and they were the colours of the spider. It seemed a fitting way to honour the stupid little arachnid, even if the little shit had totaly knocked her life off course. 

Emma was knocked out of her doodling session by the sound of the front door opening. Pulling on a stray flannel, she bounded downstairs to help her grandma put the groceries away. Wordlessly, Emma started to put various groceries in the refrigerator and cupboards. Betsy smiled at the sight of her granddaughter.

“You look happy,” she commented, “any particular reason?”

“No,” Emma responded cooly, “not really, just in a good mood.”

Betsy smiled warmly at her girl, “haven’t seen you this happy since before you woke up.”

_ Because I haven’t known who I was _ , “Guess just had an okay day at school.”

Betsy hummed in approval. The kitchen was quiet, aside the opening and closing of cupboards, which Emma noticed she had a much easier time putting things away, not having to borrow the step stool from her grandmother whenever she couldn’t reach the top shelf. Reveling in her new height took a backseat as her grandmother started to talk again.

“Did you hear what happened at that laboratory you visited on Thursday? It was attacked yesterday.”

Emma hoped her grandmother didn’t notice how she froze when Betsy mentioned Oscorp Labs. A brief image of Dr Lohst in her arms bleeding out flashed across her mind. She shook of the awful guilt she felt before responding.

“Yeah, we were talking about it in Chemistry today, crazy how they don’t know who did it.” Emma choked out.

“Well, they say a man walked out of the building after the police got there. They say he broke a gun in his bare hands.”

Emma held back a scoff over being referred to as a man again. She rolled her eyes instead, which also proved to be a mistake, as her grandmother noticed the eye roll.

“What?” Betsy asked, “don’t tell me being gay means you have an extreme distaste for every man, even the superhero types.”

Emma flushed red, “What? No! You know that’s not how it works!”

Betsy chuckled, “I’m teasing dear, it’s what grandmothers do. But seriously, why are you rolling your eyes? What do you have against this guy?”

“Nothing!” Emma crossed her arms defiantly, “I- just, how do we even know it was a guy? All the eye witness said was he saw someone with their hood up. It could’ve been a girl!”

Betsy laughed, “you have a good point Emma, it could’ve been a girl.”

Emma nodded, going back to putting the groceries away, before helping her grandma tidy their house. The conversation drifted in a different direction for a while, and once Emma thought it was safe, she approached her next question hesitantly.

“Grandma? Do I look like a guy to you?” Emma asked, a little flustered. She really hadn’t thought of herself as anything other than herself, but something about being mistaken as a guy rubbed her the wrong way.

“Of course you don’t.” Her grandmother scoffed as it was obvious, “You have more assets than I ever did at your age.”

Blushing, Emma crossed her arms across her chest, “thanks Gran.” she muttered.

“Hey,” Betsy crossed the room, “you are a lovely young lady, any other woman would be lucky to have you.”

Something about when her grandmother referred to her future partner as woman always brought tears to Emma’s eyes. No one in Edgewater besides her grandmother would ever do that.

Emma nodded simply, adding another quick “Thank you grandma.”

Betsy beamed at her granddaughter before going back to sorting through her mail. 

“If you want to attract more attention sweetie, you might want to try wearing something that isn’t a flannel, oversized jacket, or t-shirt.”

“Grandma!”

While Emma wasn’t particularly interested in her grandmother’s techniques of attracting women, her comment did give her an idea. Perhaps a jacket and t-shirt wasn’t what her disguise needed, because everyone would expect her to wear that. Maybe something a little more form fitting would be what she needed. A couple of sketches later, Emma found what she needed. A full body suit, red with blue accents on the arms, torso, and legs. The red would also be highlighted with black web designs, and in the center of her chest a black spider. She briefly considered making the spider rainbow coloured, but figured it might be a little too on the nose. To finish the look, a full face mask, with lenses made from the same stuff as her glasses, and enough material to cover her hair from any onlookers who might be able to identify the short blonde hair.

The next day at school she could barely sit still, she could barely focus on Alyssa talking about something that had happened at cheer practice. 

“Emma? Are you even listening to me?” Alyssa asked playfully, tapping her on her forehead a couple times for good measure.

“Yeah, no, sorry.” Emma smiled apologetically, “I just got plans after school.”

“Oh?” Alyssa’s eyebrows practically shot into her hairline, “what kind of plans?”

“Oh, just some shopping stuff I get to do.” Emma shrugged nonchalantly. 

Alyssa laughed, “Emma I didn’t have you pegged as the type of person who likes to go out shopping.”

“Well,” Emma smiled, “I get to go out of town.”

Something that was in fact true. Emma made sure to go at least two towns over when choosing the fabric store she would be shopping at. Lucky for her and her costume, Betsy had taught Emma how to sew immediately when Emma accidentally let it slip that it wouldn’t be taught at their school anymore. As much as Emma hated the hours her grandma would make her sew doll clothes, or quilts or table runners, the hidden talent of hers was coming in handy as she purchased the right material in the right lengths for the job.

All in all, it took Emma a couple of weeks to perfect her suit. It took a lot of hiding from Betsy, especially because of how much she was concerned that Emma spent hours in her room without coming out. Emma had hidden scraps of fabric and unfinished panels under her bed covers and under her homework more times than she had count. 

Those few weeks gave Emma more than enough time to become a self proclaimed expert on the Raid. They worked almost entirely in the shadows, only appearing when they needed to, when they  _ wanted _ to be seen. Only small bits of footage was captured of the group, as they were great fans of knocking out cameras before they worked. What Emma could gather, is that they had three main agendas.

One, cause panic. Stealing children, causing riots, and robbing stores always sent communities into shock.

Two, ruin lives. The burning of businesses, in all reported cases, never went to big retail stores, it was always small business owners. There was no way that could damage economies that much, especially considering every town in Indiana had a Wal-Mart. The only reason to attack small business was to ruin the lives of those who own the business.

Three, attack the defenceless. The Raid had a history of scooping up children, carrying them in vans for hours on end with no contact with the outside world, and then dumping them on the side of the road, forcing the children, who were as young as six, to try and wander their way back home. In recent years, the Raid had taken to finding any member of the LGBT community and stalking them for weeks, threatening them, looking through their windows, before-

Emma had closed a few articles on the subject before, she never had the heart to read the entire thing, it was just too much for her. It also gave her a sense of responsibility, knowing that if the Raid tries to do this anymore, she could try and stop them.

The magnitude of the situation made it hard for Emma to pinpoint exactly where the Raid would show up next. The gang seemed to be all over the state, striking in random places, making it almost impossible where they would show up next. During the time making her suit, Emma had searched for a possible target for the Raid, wondering where she could confront them. Their bases were secret, they could be anyone you knew. A few days before her suit was done, Emma struck gold. There, to the right of her google search, was an ad for the Indiana Pride Festival, happening that weekend. The thought of a pride in Indiana sent Emma’s heart aflutter, but the reality of the situation came crashing down on her like a ton of bricks. That would be the perfect spot for the Raid to target.

And if the Raid was going to be there, so was Emma.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's looking like I'll post new chapters on the weekends, so be sure to keep an eye out for them!


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

It took a little convincing on Emma’s part for her Grandmother to let her go. The fact that the Pride was happening in Indianapolis, a large town where Emma was sure to not be recognized eventually convinced Betsy that Emma was fine to go. Saturday morning saw Emma getting up around seven am, jumping out of bed and getting her suit on. It fit over all over her curves perfectly, all of her measurements made it so the suit would fit her to a tee. Pulling on a T-shirt, flannel, pants, and shoes over her suit, Emma patted down the stairs. She quickly shoved her mask into her bag, making sure her grandmother didn’t see it. Betsy fussed over Emma for a while, reminding her to be safe over and over again. Emma felt a pang of guilt every time her grandma said to avoid danger, because the entire reason she was going was to seek out danger. Despite her guilt, Emma stiffly agreed to stay out of trouble, wiggling out of her grandmother’s grasp and heading to the car.

Thirty minutes later, Emma pulled into a designated parking spot for the event. She already reasoned that getting to high ground to monitor the event was the best course of action. Emma dodged her way through the crowd, momentarily allowing herself to be amazed with how many people were at the event. A good part of her wanted to participate in the activities the event was offering, but she convinced herself to focus. If she let her guard down, a lot of people were going to get hurt. She slipped into the tallest building, opting to climb the stairs rather than crawl up the side of the building. Emma decided that despite her awesome disguise, she wasn’t quite willing to be spotted yet. The roof of the building proved to be a good vantage point. Emma made busy for a moment pulling her glasses off and street clothes off to reveal her suit. A twinge of self confidence pulled in her stomach, she never wore something so form fitting. Pulling the mask on silenced those voices of self doubt. No one could judge her body if they didn’t know it was her.

The morning was exhausting for Emma, staying on the roof looking down at the crowd for something bad to happen really drained her. She pulled the mask up over her mouth so she could drink some water. She also checked her phone, seeing it was almost noon. She had been at this for almost four and a half hours. Sighing, she put her water bottle away and pulled her mask back down. She scanned the crowd for anything suspicious, wondering when something would happen.

Then something happened.

The familiar sensation of her hair standing on end made Emma sit straight up.  **Dangerous person at 2 o’clock** . 

_ Here we go _ . 

Emma stood on top of the building, shooting a web towards her two and swinging off of the building. Sure enough, in the middle of the crowd, Emma saw long blonde hair being hidden by a black ski mask the woman pulled over her head. She crouched over a long black bag, before pulling a scary looking gun out. As Emma swung down, people started to scatter, noticing the gun.

As intimidating as possible, Emma yelled at the woman through her mask “Put the gun down!”

The woman in the black ski mask turned to look at her. Emma could only see her piercing blue eyes through the mask. Her expression was confused until her eyes landed on the spider on her chest.

“The spider man project…” The woman trailed off, looking more and more angry every second.

“It’s Spider-Woman to you.” Emma growled.

That did it for the Raid woman. She shot at Emma several times, Emma dodging the bullets with ease. It was tiring, it was a lot harder to dodge twenty bullets a second as opposed to the singular bullet every twenty seconds as she had in the lab. If the gun earlier hadn’t gotten people to run, the gunshots did, everyone started running away from where the Raid woman was shooting at Emma. Eventually, the woman ran out of ammunition, and before she could reach into her bag to reload, Emma was next to her. With as much force as she could, Emma kicked the woman in the chest, causing the lady to crash into the nearest vendor booth. Emma jumped over to the woman, pulling the gun out of her hands and throwing it to the ground, crushing it for good measure with her boot.

The woman lunged towards Emma with a yell, landing a blow on Emma’s jaw. The two fist fought for a couple seconds before Emma tripped the woman, swiping her legs underneath the woman’s. The woman collapsed to the ground, her head hitting the asphalt with a thud. Moving as quick as lightning, Emma webbed the woman’s hands to the asphalt. She tied the legs together as well, before sticking them to the ground as well. Out of breath from the fight, Emma stood over the woman. Deciding that her head had hit the ground a little hard, Emma pulled the woman’s ski mask off to see if there was any blood. She yanked the black material off to reveal the woman’s identity.

“Sydney?” Emma took a couple steps back, staring at the woman who was her tour guide a couple days ago.

“You brat!” Sydney thrashed in the webs, “you stole those from me!”

The realisation hit Emma that Sydney was most definitely in the labs to keep an eye on Dr Lohst. She was probably going to be one of the first people to be experimented on once the Spider was finished. It also dawned on Emma that Sydney probably knew Dr Lohst would be executed on Sunday.

Teaming with rage, Emma grabbed the woman’s shirt and pulled her close to her mask.

“You knew Dr Lohst would die.” Emma growled.

To Emma’s surprise, the lunatic started laughing.

“You stupid kid,” she spat, “he would die anyway.”

Emma was ready to slam the woman into the ground before the woman cut her off.

“Rage is not becoming on you child,” She laughed, “besides, it’s distracting you to your task.”

“What task?” Emma snarled, wondering what Sydney could mean.

“Well you’re here to save these miserable sinners aren’t you?” Sydney chuckled when Emma didn’t respond, “you didn’t think I came here alone, did you?”

Before Emma could respond, her hair stood on end  **Another Raid to your 6.**

Emma shoved the tied up woman back to the ground before swinging off in the other direction. Sure enough, there was another person in a ski mask with a large black bag. The person was very short and scrawny, Emma could see that it just looked like a teenage boy. The boy was lost in the crowd, looking like he wanted to get away too. Emma swung down, plucked the boy out of the crowd, and swung into a building across the way. 

The building was a little deteriorated, but it looked like it was empty. Emma loomed over the boy, ready to fight if he started to swing. To her surprise, the sight of Emma made the boy scream in fear. The kid took his mask off, putting his hands in the air.

“Please don’t hurt me!” he whimpered.

Emma stood in amazement at the kid, well kid-ish, he looked a little older than Emma, but still looked like a minor.

“Don’t fight and I won’t hurt you.” Emma stated, causing a surprised yelp from the boy, “for the love of god be quiet!”

The boy’s hands flew to his mouth.

“Listen,” Emma said, pinching the bridge of her nose through her mask, “I won’t hurt you, just answer a few questions about the Raid for me.”

The boy hesitated, before swallowing and answering, “I don’t know what you’re talking about?”

Emma raised her hand, pretending to strike. As she expected, the boy’s hands flew to his face with a yelp.

“Talk.” she emphasised.

The boy nodded, “I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”

“How many of you were at this event?” Emma pointed out of the window for emphasis.

“Just me and another woman,” The boy said.

“Where does the Raid operate from?” Emma said, getting straight to the point.

“There’s three bases,” the boy started, “the main one operates from a warehouse in Evanstown. None of the residents know its there.”

Emma pulled a notebook out of her bag, “write the address.” she demanded.

The boy nodded sheepishly, he scribbled down the address quickly, his hands shaking all the way. He handed the book back to Emma. In response, Emma webbed his hand to the wall.

“Don’t follow me.” She demanded, being met with a furrious head nod from the boy.

“Wait!” the boy called as she turned to leave, “are you going to stop them?”

Emma turned to face the boy, his face so hopeful.

“I’m trying to.” she said somberly, “you did help.”

The boy smiled sheepishly.

“Please stop them, they do mean things.” With his free hand, the boy pulled the collar of his black turtleneck down. On his right collarbone, was a burn mark in the shape of the Raid’s logo.

Emma’s breath hitched as she saw the boy look at her, absolutely broken. Against her best judgement, Emma undid his hand from the web. She shoved ten dollars into his hand, along with a spare flannel of hers.

“Take these, buy a bus ticket, and get out of the state. Find a hotel or something. Come back in three weeks, the Raid will be gone by then”

The boy looked at her with absolute amazement. “You’d do that for me?”

Emma tried not to cry from behind her mask, “I know what it’s like being an outcast.”

Clutching the flannel and money the boy smiled, “thank you, Spider-Woman.”

Emma patted him on the head, before running to the window and leaping out.

Emma tried to go back to where she had Sydney, but the police and news stations were already there. Swearing at all of the cameras pointed in her direction, Emma swung over the top of the building where she was on the steak out before. She stuck herself to the side of the building, changing into her street clothes, before climbing down the building into an alleyway where she disappeared into the crowd, leaving the news stations wondering where the Spider-Woman went.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't write action a whole lot in case you couldn't already tell


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Emma had expected the concern from her grandmother when she got home. Betsy wouldn’t stop making sure Emma was alright, losing her mind when she saw a bruise forming on Emma’s face from where Sydney had punched her. Emma had lied flawlessly, simply stating that she had tripped on her way to her car in the chaos, and bumped her chin on the sidewalk. Emma had expected her grandmother to talk about the Spider Woman she had seen on the news. 

Emma did not expect to see all of her classmates share the same enthusiasm.

Before Emma could even think about listening for Alyssa in the crowd, the conversations of her peers cut through her head like a knife.

“Look at how strong-”

“So brave-”

“She just crushes the gun-”

“Too bad she defended homos-”

“Look at how cool she was though-”

_ Click _

Emma shut the door to the band closet behind her. While the conversations she heard weren’t exactly negative, the noise in the hall was just too much for her to handle. Sliding down the wall, Emma pulled her phone out to look at the News articles from the weekend, something she was too nervous to do during the weekend itself. She had heard tidbits from Alyssa on Sunday, when Alyssa had called to see if Emma had heard about the superhero at Pride. Alyssa had originally assumed that Emma was there, but the blonde lied and said that she didn’t go. It was just a little white lie, Emma didn’t need Alyssa connecting the dots between her weird behavior and the superhero. Emma had responded to everything Alyssa had said over the phone with well acted surprise, pretending she hadn’t heard anything about it. From what Alyssa had said, the news only knew about Sydney attacking the event, and not the boy who Emma had pulled into the old building. Scrolling through her phone confirmed that no one knew about the other potential attacker that day, much to Emma’s relief. Emma’s eyes looked up from her phone as the bell rang through the halls, signaling for the children to go to their first class. 

Emma wandered into her English class, barely noticing the glares from her classmates. When she sat down though, she suddenly felt everyone’s eyes on her. Pretending not to notice the sharp eye contact that was being made with her, Emma started to pull out her notes and papers. The staring of her English ‘partner’ drove her over the edge.

“What?” Emma asked harshly.

The entire class seemed to turn their heads around at the comment directed at the boy sitting next to Emma.

“Nothing.” The boy responded, though his tone implied that there was something wrong.

Emma didn’t like doing this, but once the whispers of her classmates started up, she willed her ears to focus on what they were saying. Somehow, they locked on to one harsh truth,

“-someone saw her at that gay event-”

_ No _

Emma knew she wasn’t at that event to celebrate the fact that she was gay. Her classmates didn’t know that. They had already had suspicions. This was all the proof they needed.

Emma’s breathing became shorter as the teacher started the class, though the words he spoke were drowned out by the pounding of Emma’s chest and the dirty glances that were thrown her way. They knew, they all knew. They knew she was gay. She tried to keep it to herself for so long, tried to quell any rumors about her, stop any suspicions they may have had. Her mind raced at a thousand miles per second. How many people knew? Did the teachers know? How had anybody even see her? She was in the crowd for five minutes before going up the building and putting her mask on. Oh god.

Did Alyssa know?

Emma knew the fact that Alyssa already knew that Emma was gay, but Emma had  _ lied _ . She had said she wasn’t at the event. She didn’t want Alyssa to think she had anything to do with Spider Woman, but she had just perjured herself. The soft buzz of her phone in her pocket confirmed her thoughts.

**I thought you said you didn’t go to Pride?**

Emma swallowed, hoping she could play dumb.

**I didn’t.**

Emma’s heart stopped at Alyssa’s next message, a clear as day picture of her walking through the crowd on her way to the tall building.

**Shelby saw you, she’s interning at a building on the street Pride happened at.**

Emma wanted to cry. Instead of trying to explain herself, she simply turned her phone off and shoved it in her bag. The rest of the day was absolute torture. The glaring looks she got from her classmates. Pushing in the halls, scraping her knees. It took everything in her not to swing and knock the daylights out of anyone who messed with her. The only thing that stopped her was a rational voice in her mind reminding her if she did swing at anyone, she  _ would _ actually knock them out. Even worse was the thought of lying to Alyssa. She couldn’t even bring herself to listen for Alyssa’s heartbeat, feeling guilty about anyone finding out. She let the dull throb in her head sit as the conversations of everyone in the school flooded her senses. Emma couldn’t bring herself to even look in Alyssa’s general direction during Chemistry, she didn’t want to see the disappointment or anger in her eyes when she did.

Emma made a B-line for the band closet for lunch, hoping to get some quiet to sulk and feel awful for a while. When she opened the door, she stopped dead, because there waiting for her was Alyssa. Once her mind caught up with her body, Emma turned around to exit the small room, only to be stopped by a very demanding and intimidating voice.

“Emma Nolan if you take another step in that direction I will murder you.”

Doing as the woman told her, Emma walked backwards into the room, letting the door close as she did. Emma’s head hung low as the room was quiet for a while. Emma rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly, 

“H-How’d you get in here?” She whispered, finally willing herself to look at Alyssa for the first time today.

Alyssa stood with her arms crossed, a rightful anger across her face, “you left the door unlocked when you left.”

Emma’s mind flashed to that morning where she did leave the band closet without locking it.

“Oh.” Was all Emma could muster.

“Why did you lie to me?” Alyssa got straight to the point. Her voice had an angry tone to it, but if Emma didn’t know any better she would have said that the question made Alyssa’s voice sound hurt.

“I, um,” Emma paused searching for a reason to give Alyssa. She couldn’t tell Alyssa the real reason she had lied, because the reason she lied in the first place was so Alyssa wouldn’t connect the dots and realise that she was in the same place as Spider Woman. She decided that she would tell a sort of half-truth, “I was scared.”

“Scared?” Alyssa echoed, her arms still crossed, though her face was softening ever so slightly, “what were you scared about?”

“Just…” Emma rung her hands together, for a fleeting moment she considered telling Alyssa why she really went to pride. Those thoughts were shoved down as she continued with her half truth, “I didn’t want you to know where I was, because I would have figured you would think I was weird.”

“Oh, Emma.” Emma looked up to Alyssa, she was shaking her head. “I don’t blame you for not wanting to share everything with me. In our past years of High school I haven’t really gone out of my way to help you.”

“You did this year though.” Emma pointed out.

Alyssa smiled sadly at her, “but you haven’t been treated awfully just this year.”

Emma kept her mouth closed, she wanted to say something to assure Alyssa she did think of her as a best friend. Guilt clawed in her chest as she was reminded that best friends don’t keep secrets from each other. Unable to stand any longer from her shaking knees, Emma took a seat leaning up against the wall of the tiny space. To her surprise, Alyssa crossed the room to slide down the wall next to her. The two sat in a somewhat uncomfortable silence for a while before Alyssa spoke through it.

“How did you know you liked girls?” She questioned.

Emma looked at Alyssa in surprise, though Alyssa’s gaze was fixed on the wall opposite of her. Emma had told Alyssa she was gay, but after that they never talked about it. This was the first time Alyssa had ever broached the subject with her, and it caught Emma a little off guard considering how poorly the conversation a few minutes ago was going.

“I dunno,” Emma said with a shrug, “I guess I always sort of knew something was  _ different _ about me. Like, I never thought that any boy was cute. Or like, thought I could be with one… it’s weird.”

“It’s not weird,” Alyssa spoke in a whisper, “did you like, I don’t know, have a crush on anyone?”

Emma thought for a moment, “I think I had a crush on Sarlett Johanson?”

Alyssa snorted, breaking the uncomfortable atmosphere, “Seriously?”

“Oh come on! Even straight women know she’s beautiful!” Emma defended.

The two chuckle slightly for a moment before being pushed into another round of silence. Emma wanted to say something, though it was entirely unclear what she wanted to say. She wanted to say she was sorry for lying, to say what had happened at Oscorp during their field trip, to say how scared she was for being outed, how scared she was for the entire situation she was in. 

“Why do you wanna know?” the words came tumbling out of Emma’s mouth before she could think of anything else to say.

Alyssa went absolutely ridgid beside her, she sucked a breath in but didn’t let it out. Emma could see tears fill up behind her eyes, though Alyssa would refuse to ever let them spill.

Alyssa’s response was barely audible, her voice wavering as she whispered, “I just… I-I a-am…” She shook her head, “Emma, I’m gay.”

The brunette’s voice cracked on the last word as she finally let tears fall. She sniffled and buried her head in her hands. Wordlessly, Emma wrapped her arms around Alyssa as she sobbed into her hands. As much as Emma had going on in her life at that moment, she knew that Alyssa saying she was gay was probably the most difficult thing. It was for Emma at least, and she had become a vigilante three days ago.

Emma listened intently as Alyssa managed to choke out the rest of her words, “I-I had been thinking about it for the past three weeks and I just couldn’t accept it but then I  _ did _ and I was so worried someone would find out about any of it so I didn’t tell anyone not even you even though I should’ve told you sooner and when I saw that picture of you I just got so upset because you are so brave for being so open about who you are and it made me feel awful I couldn’t be the same and when Shelby told everyone I felt awful because you were going through all of it like you’re the only one but  _ you’re not _ Emma- I just-”

Alyssa’s voice cracked as she dissolved into sobs again. It amazed Emma that Alyssa could ramble like that even when she was having a total mental breakdown. She stared at the sobbing girl in her arms, unsure if she should console her or maybe just cry with her. To her alarm it seemed that Emma had already done the latter, as she could feel a few stray tears on her cheeks from Alyssa’s rant. 

“Okay…” Emma trailed, “well, let’s take a second to unpack that because holy shit Alyssa you got such a motor mouth.”

Alyssa’s sobbing was cut off by a bit of wet laughter.

“Sorry.” Alyssa sniffed.

“It’s alright, I know you gotta ramble,” Emma rubbed her arm, “let’s start from the beginning.”

Alyssa nodded slowly, “I’m gay.”

Emma snorted, “I gathered.” 

“I didn’t tell anyone, even though I should have told you.” Alyssa took her head out of her hands to stare at the wall, “I just didn’t want to overwhelm you after, you know…”

“Yeah, the Sleeping Beauty incident.”

“We’ll workshop that name,” Alyssa added quickly.

“No we won’t,” Emma defended, “I get why you didn’t want to tell me immediately though.”

Alyssa nodded her head slowly, almost as if she was keeping something else, but whatever it was she didn’t mention it. She chewed on her cheek slowly as she continued.

“When Shelby told me she knew you were gay I pretended to not belive her. But then she showed me that picture and I was so scared for you.” Alyssa gritted her teeth, “I was so mad at her, and I just couldn’t say anything about it. I wanted to be mad at you for lying to me, but I just couldn’t. I knew you only lied to me because you thought I wouldn’t understand…”

“Right now it looks like you’re the only one who does.” Emma said weakly, a little overwhelmed by Alyssa’s confession.

Wordlessly, Alyssa hesitantly reached one of her hands out towards Emma. Without thinking about it, Emma took it in her own, twisting their fingers together. Alyssa squeezed Emma’s hand gently, leaning her head on Emma’s shoulder while she did. Feeling Alyssa’s warmth pressed on the side of her body let Emma let out a deep sigh, content in being there with Alyssa though the world seethed at her outside of the closet door.

“Look at us,” Emma started, using her free hand to wipe stray tears from Alyssa’s face, “two gays chillin in the closet. One recently out, the other recently outed.”

Alyssa laughed, absolute music to Emma’s ears. Her laughter died down after a second.

“I’m sorry you were outed. Out of all the shitty things our classmates have done, this is really at the top of the list.”

Well, at the top of Emma’s list was Kaylee putting the spider on her. But number two was probably when Nick and Kevin siphoned all the gas out of her car and dumped it on her. So this was a solid number three.

“Eh,” Emma shrugged, “I’ve been through worse.”

Alyssa pulled her head off of Emma’s shoulder to look at her. She also brought her free hand up to lightly trace the bruise on Emma’s jawline, “did they do this?”

Emma looked at Alyssa’s eyes, slightly puffy from crying, but mostly filled with rage and concern.

“N-no” Emma stammered, trying to remember the lie she told her grandmother, “it happened on Saturday. I tripped and hit it on the curb.”

“Clutz.” Alyssa teased.

“Well there was a lot going  _ on _ .”

Alyssa shifted somewhat uncomfortably at the mention of what happened on Saturday.

“I’m glad you’re okay.” Alyssa whispered, “I don’t know what I would’ve done if something happened to you.”

There was that pang of guilt in Emma’s chest again. What she was doing was nothing short of very dangerous, and here Alyssa was worrying about if she got hurt or not. She didn’t even know the half of what Emma was doing either.

“It was pretty scary.” Emma squeezed Alyssa’s hand a little tighter, involuntarily letting the angry glare of Sydney pass through her mind.

“I bet,” Alyssa agreed, leaning her head back on Emma’s shoulder, “next year though, I’m going to Pride.”

Emma’s eyes widened, “that’s super brave of you.”

Alyssa simply shrugged, “I got this awesome friend who’s teaching me how to be brave.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A shorter chapter this time, but with more of that Alyssa/Emma stuff I promised in the tags. (Don't worry the next chapter's long and has superhero stuff)


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has some more graphic scenes of violence so be careful lovelies.

Chapter 10

“Reports of the Spider Woman disarming three Raid Gang members, saving a young clerk from being robbed"

“Eye witnesses say they saw the vigilante Spider Woman quell most of the flames at this small business before leaving the arsonists tied up for the police.”

“Next at 5, a young boy returned home after he had been taken off of the sidewalk and dumped on the side of back Highway 21.”

“Raid member Sydney Shelton pleads guilty at hearing. Why she has not told officers about the gang she is affiliated with.”

Emma picked at the pink nail polish on her fingers, “Gran, can we please watch something else?”

Betsy shook her head, “nope. You could stand to watch more news anyway Emma. This stuff is important to know about.”

_ Unless you were there for all of these events _, Emma thought bitterly, as the news station showed another cell phone video of the masked hero swinging away from stopping a robbery.

Truth be told, Emma was taking great pride in helping all of these people. For once in her life she felt like she was making an actual difference in other’s lives and not just being an outsider. However, there was just that bit of irony that came whenever she went to school. Everyone would kill to meet Spider Woman, but Emma Nolan should be fed to the wolves. Would Emma still save one of her classmates as Spider Woman? Yes. Would she enjoy doing it? No.

While she was going around stopping what the Raid was doing, Emma knew she couldn’t keep it up forever. The amount of times she had to sneak out was far into the one hundreds by this point. If the Raid was going to be taken down, she needed to cut them off at the source. For the past week she’s been doing this, she had been researching the address that the boy at Pride had given her. Blue prints, google maps, anything that would give her an idea on how to take the base out. The building was huge, and from what she had seen on her stake outs, heavily guarded. 

Emma had told the boy at Pride it would be safe to come back in three weeks, and a week had already passed. She was still stuck in square one, trying to figure out how to get over the electric fence and guard dogs without arousing suspicion. On top of that, she was still working on school stuff, and the end of the semester meant midterms were rapidly approaching. Much to Emma’s dismay, many of her lunch hang outs with Alyssa were turning into time where Emma got as much homework done as she possibly could.

Monday of the second week rolled around, and Emma was sitting in the band closet wordlessly trying to figure out the theme of Great Expectations and how to convey that theme in one thousand words. Alyssa was goofing off next to her, her essay already complete. She talked about how at cheerleading practice on Friday a girl’s glasses flew off her face and hit Kalyee on the head. She laughed at her own story, earning a chuckle out of Emma as well. Alyssa fell silent for a moment.

“Emma, lemme try on your glasses.” Alyssa suggested eagerly.

Emma was barely paying attention to Alyssa, “Why?” She asked, not looking up from her paper.

“Cause I wanna see how blind you are,” Alyssa reached for the frames, “pleeeeease?”

Still not fully paying attention to the words Alyssa was saying, Emma grabbed her glasses and handed them to her hyperactive friend. Alyssa let out an excited squeal and giggled as she slid the frames on her own face. Suddenly, Alyssa stopped giggling. The lights suddenly just felt too bright for Emma. Then the reality of what happened crashed down on Emma.

The blonde looked up from her paper at Alyssa, who was looking through her frames with pure confusion written all over her face. The previously giggly girl took the glasses off to look at them before putting them on again. The air stood still for a long time.

“Em,” Alyssa stopped. She opened her mouth to say something but stopped. 

Alyssa saying her name was all Emma needed to snap out of her shock. She unceremoniously leaned forward and took the glasses off of Alyssa, sliding them back on her own face. 

“What…” Alyssa shook her head, “What _ was _ that?”

Emma shrugged, “they’re just my glasses.”

“But they were so dark Emma,” Alyssa’s words were growing louder, and more confused, “they were like sunglasses, how do you see in those?”

“I see fine” Emma snapped a little, “your eyes are probably just not used to my prescription-”

“No!” Alyssa suddenly shouted, “I know how glasses work Emma I’m not stupid.”

Emma bristled at Alyssa’s words, suddenly feeling very defensive, “I’m not saying you are!”

“Then tell me the truth!” Alyssa was on her feet.

Emma stood up to stand looking down at her, “what are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about whatever you’ve been hiding from me!” her hands were balled into fists at her sides.

“I’m not hiding anything!” Emma hoped she sounded more confident about that then how she felt.

“Jesus Christ Em!” Alyssa rubbed her head, “How stupid do you think I am? You _ have _ been hiding something from me. I just didn’t want to pry but it is too much! You’ve suddenly gotten taller, you’re sensitive to loud noises, every time a car backfires you jump ten feet in the air, you haven’t been paying attention in class, you aren’t at home at all, your glasses lenses make everything look _ pitch black _!”

“I just-” Emma searched for the right words, “I just don’t want you to worry about me Lyssa.”

“Well you’re doing a crappy job because I’m really worried.” Alyssa took a deep breath before continuing, much softer though, “just… tell me what’s on your mind Em.”

I’m Spider Woman

I’m planning to take down the Raid but I have no idea how to

I’m terrified people at our school are one bad day away from breaking all of my bones

I’m terrified of failing the entire state

I’m terrified of losing more people I care about

I love you

“I can’t.”

Alyssa looked down at the ground.

“Okay,” was all she said. She grabbed her backpack and started towards the door, “I’m here when you’re ready to talk Em.”

With that, she left the closet.

_ Fucking stupid _ Emma seethed as she got home, ‘ _ I can’t’? What the hell was I thinking? _ Her school bag clattered to the floor as she shoved it off her shoulders, pushing her various notes aside, Emma flopped down on her bed face down. No, she couldn’t have told her the _ truth _ or a _ convincing lie _ , she had to fucking say “ _ I can’t _ ”. A whirlwind of emotions flooded the empty bedroom, surrounding her all at once. Mad at herself. Sorry for herself. Mad at Alyssa. She couldn’t be mad at Alyssa, but she _ was _ . She just had to be so damn observant and so _ damn _ caring. Forget her. But at the same time don’t. 

Emma blinked back tears as she resumed being furious with herself. She was letting one of the only two people in her life that cared about her slip away. The weight of the room pressed on her aching bones, because she hadn’t felt this alone since before she met Alyssa. The idea of going to school and not having her smiling face in the hallway, or her dumb jokes in the band closet during lunch. She was going to be alone. Again. 

“Fuuuuuuck.” The agonizing groan was cut off by the pillow on her bed. The same pillow was digging into her glasses uncomfortably. Emma turned herself around so her back was pressed on the bed instead of her face and her gaze was directed towards the ceiling. She closed her eyes, willing herself to go back and change things, willing herself to call Alyssa and talk like she wanted.

Her eyes fluttered open to land on a post it note that was stuck on her ceiling. Granted, post it notes were showing up in higher places since she got her powers, but she had yet to put one on the ceiling. Jumping up to stick on the top of her room, Emma reached out to read the mysterious sticky note. 

**Raid meeting at 1261 David Ave in Evanstown tonight. They’re planning something big, -Jamie**

Emma read the note over and over again. Wondering who Jamie was and why he was telling her this. Then it occurred to her, Jamie must have been the boy at Pride, telling Emma exactly where to find the Raid. She swallowed as she read the note one more time. She had been planning a storming of the main building for close to a week, still unsure of what she was doing or who she was supposed to be going after. Emma decided she didn’t have to stop the meeting, she would just listen in on it.

Emma waited patiently until her Grandma was asleep, before crawling out of her window and to her car. Evanstown was the next town over from Edgewater when you traveled West, so the drive would take 5 minutes. Emma plugged the address into her phone before taking off down the west side highway. Emma parked her car several blocks from where the building was, pulling on her mask and backpack before jumping between trees along the street.

You know, for a criminal headquarters, this neighborhood seemed pretty nice. The aforementioned trees that Emma was jumping between were well taken care of and protected from dogs by pretty little picket fences. The same picket fences lined the sidewalk between the houses. And the houses looked more like mansions, grand doorways and multiple floors for each one. A nervous feeling pitted Emma’s stomach, she had thought the Raid was just a bunch of criminal masterminds, now it seemed like they were _ rich _ criminal masterminds. 

The house according to the address she was given was not the largest on the block, but it was definitely well guarded. A tall brick wall surrounded the premises, and from what Emma could see, various guards and guard dogs wandered in the front lawn. Thinking on the fly, Emma went around to the right side of the house, behind the wall. With one leap, she perched herself on top of the cool brick wall. Getting into the house would be a stealth mission, which really made Emma regret the bright colours of her suit. Looking around the house, Emma was able to find the air conditioning unit on the back side of the house, a vent located near it. Bingo.

Timing the guards rotations in the yard, Emma found that for two minutes the area she needed to be in would be empty, so she had two minutes to break the vent open, get inside the house, and replace the vent so the guard wouldn’t suspect anything. No big deal. Counting herself down from three, Emma jumped off of the brick wall, somersaulting towards the AC unit, and the clock was on. She couldn’t completely punch the vent off, because then she wouldn’t be able to put it back on. Carefully as to not make too much noise, Emma popped three of the four screws of the vent off, before crawling into the vent. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone coming. _ Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck _ Emma panicked as she rested the vent cover over the opening, clamping her hand over her masked mouth to stifle her breathing further. The guard didn’t notice, simply standing watch over the area.

Turning around, Emma started to crawl through the vent to see what she could find. The more she crawled, the more she wished Jamie would have been more specific as to where the meeting was. There were dozens of rooms in the house, and that was just the first floor. Furthermore, Jaime had just said “tonight”, and it was eleven o’clock currently. For all Emma knew, the meeting could be over and she was breaking and entering for no reason.

Huffing in indignation, Emma worked her way to what seemed the last room on the first floor. She peered through the vent to look inside, and when she did, her heart caught in her throat. A dozen or so men and women all sat at a large rectangular table. All of the people at the table were dressed in different uniforms from various large scale businesses in Indiana. Emma recognized one in a Wal-Mart manager uniform, some others in Police uniforms, and one in an Oscorp lab coat with a Lab ID. At the head of the table was an old greying man, bald except for a neatly trimmed grey beard and mustache. His eyes drooped with time, though his expression seemed to be permanently stuck in a scowl. He was also the only one not dressed in a uniform, instead sporting a very expensive looking tuxedo that was probably worth more than all of Emma’s possessions and her car combined. Emma didn’t need a spider sense to tell her that he was the lead bad guy.

“You promised this plan would be set into motion _ months _ ago!” A Wal-Mart woman called out to the bald man.

“My men are tired Seth!” A burly man in a highway construction orange vest called out, “they’re tired of just kidnapping children! They want to take it farther but every time I have to say ‘no’! You said in July that we would be able to kill them!”

“It’s December!” A high strung woman in a bookstore uniform yelled in agreement.

Emma’s skin crawled as the people in the room called out the various heinous things they were supposed to be doing, but denied by this Seth character. She shifted uncomfortably when they all shouted about the murdering of various citizens of Indiana, some screaming about promises of expanding past the state. Realizing she needed to document the meeting, Emma carefully pulled her phone out of her bag, pulling up her voice memos app and hitting record on the shouting. After a couple minutes of angry yelling, the bald man stood slowly from his seat. He raised one hand in the air in a stop motion, very slowly. As he did, the shouts stopped ringing out, and the members sat patiently in their chairs for the man to talk.

“Esteemed members,” He started in a voice so unnecessarily smooth and chilling, Emma nearly jumped out of her skin when he started to talk, “I understand that you are frustrated with the current state of our community, and I assure you that changes to how we operate will commence immediately after we complete the first cycle of cleansing our community.”

_ That sounds like such a cultist thing to say… _ Emma thought disdainfully as she thought of what he might mean by ‘cleansing’.

“Oh yeah?” the construction worker member questioned, “and when exactly is this ‘cleansing’ going to be ready?”

“There have been some… setbacks.” Seth spoke meticulously, “Mainly how we are going to be able to shield our own from what will befall this great State.” He smiled soothingly, “speaking of, let me introduce you to the newest member of our community, Jacob Rogan, new head of operations in the Oscorp Labs.”

There was a polite scattered applause as the man in the lab coat stood, nodding in thanks to the other members before sitting down.

“Jacob,” Seth started again, “since Sydney was such a lackluster choice for such an important part in our development, would you mind sharing your plans for the Great Cleansing?”

Emma watched nervously as Jacob stood from his chair again and went to the front of the room to start a slideshow. He clicked to the first slide, a lot of complicated calculations that Emma couldn’t quite see because of her position in the vent.

“We at the lab have successfully created the parasite that will be let out by the Raid. It has a spread factor of one to ten. And the biology of it is very fascinating.” Jacob rattled on about the composition of the virus for a while. Even though the inside of the room looked very bored, inside the vent Emma was all ears as she listened to the scientist. The Raid was using a virus to wipe out the population, that was their big plan. “The virus also has a fatality rate of 99.99%.”

Emma’s heart dropped to the floor. There was no way any decent amount of the population would survive that.

“The virus does have a cure attached to it. Which we in the lab would release to those in the government given they comply with our commands.” Jacob finished, though Emma didn’t want to think about what those demands would be.

“What about us?” A Wal-Mart woman called, “what’s protecting us?”

“Well,” Jacob paused, “we can’t give out the cure to ourselves, as we don’t want to raise suspicion as to who our members are. So we devised a system where those in the Raid will be given a ‘3 week inclusive vacation’. Then, all of our members will take refuge in state of the art bunkers until the cure is released to the public.”

“Great,” the construction man said, “When do we release the virus?”

“Well, we can’t just yet,” Jacob warned, “the bunkers aren’t ready yet, there would be no place for us to go.”

“How long?” Seth asked.

“About two weeks.” Jacob responded confidently.

_ Two weeks _, Emma’s head spun, she only had two weeks to take down an entire organization before they released a second Black Death on the state of Indiana. 

The room erupted into cheers and congratulations for themselves, and Emma was ready to high tail it out of there. She shut the voice memo off on her phone and got ready to crawl away until-

_ Wise men say… only fools rush in… _

The heavenly sounds of Elvis Presley rang through the vent as Emma’s phone went off from an incoming call. The cheers in the other room stopped as they all listened to where the music was coming from. Emma scrambled to deny the call, even though she knew exactly who was calling her her heart still skipped a beat when she saw Alyssa’s picture on her phone. She frantically hit the red button on her phone until Elvis was cut off.

_ Please not have noticed please not have noticed _

A throwing knife embedded itself into the vent on the right side of Emma.

_ They noticed _

“Someone’s in the vent!”

_ Oh yeah, they definitely noticed _

Kicking in the vent frame, Emma dropped from the ceiling onto the table. She looked around, examining who was still in the room. About two thirds of the people either didn’t have anything to fight with or didn’t want to fight Emma, because they backed out of the room quickly. As a result, five people stood ready to throw down with Emma. Among those five people was the lead guy, Seth, who didn’t look ready to fight. Instead he looked on at Emma with fascination, like he was anticipating what she would do next. 

Emma and the four fighters stood all facing each other like a standoff. No one moved, though it did seem some were reaching for some kind of weapon on their belts. The construction worker and the Oscorp scientist stood on one side of the table, while a burly woman in a bowling alley uniform and a short tough looking man in a grocery store uniform stood on the other side. Still no one moved.

“So are we gonna dance or what?” The quip came out of Emma before she could stop it.

That seemed to do the trick for getting them to move. The short man lunged at her first, his hands around a bungee cord. The man lunging forward gave the bowling alley woman a reason to move too, her bare hands swinging towards Emma. In a fluid movement, Emma dodged the woman’s hands, though the woman distracted Emma from the short man’s knee connecting to her side. Angry from the pain, Emma grabbed her side with one hand before taking her free hand to the bungee cord in the man’s hands, forcefully yanking it into her own grasp. The man staggered back in surprise, giving Emma the opportunity to turn her attention towards the woman who was trying to wail on her. Emma timed it to where the woman punched at her, and she wrapped the bungee cord around the woman’s wrist. She struggled against Emma’s grip, but couldn’t break free. Using the cord, Emma swung the woman into the short man with all her might, causing both of them to topple over onto the ground. 

The masked teenager turned to face the other two adults on the other side of the table, but before she could turn around fully, a blast of energy hit her lower abdomen, flinging her off of the table and into the wall. She fell into a bookshelf before returning to the ground, various books flying off the shelf and pounding into her body. Her eyesight spotted slightly as she looked at what hit her. From across the table, she could see a firearm, brightly glowing with a green cackling electricity, in the Oscorp Man’s hand. He smiled wickedly as she grunted with pain. She removed her arm from her torso, where she had grabbed instinctively once she had been shot. Her arm was stained with a bright red liquid. Blood. Her blood. A lot of her blood.

“That’s her sir.” The Labcoat man said, “that’s the girl who tampered with the spider-man project.”

“Spider-Woman,” Emma corrected with a groan as she pulled herself off of the floor. She should have kept her comment to herself, because the burly construction man was standing over her with nothing to lose.

“Shut the _ fuck _up!” The man growled. His rough hands balled into fists as he slammed his closed fists down on Emma’s back, pushing her back into the floor. Emma yelled in pain as a book or something was pushed into the wound on her stomach. His anger continued to cause Emma great pain as he continued slamming her into the ground. Emma’s vision kept filling with dark spots as the hits became harder and harder. 

“That’s enough.” A calm voice pierced through Emma’s ringing ears.

In a moment, Emma was lifted off of the ground by her head. She struggled under his grip to no avail, her strength depleting the longer she lost blood. After what seemed like an eternity, the construction man let go of Emma, dropping her to the ground in front of Seth.

“Leave me,” Seth requested, “I have some things I would like to say to our guest.”

Reluctantly, the four Raid members left the trashed meeting room. Emma looked up to focus on the man standing over her. His eyes were a piercing blue, no emotion behind them. He studied Emma for a bit before he spoke.

“So you’re the child who’s been trying to stop my operations.” He said coldly.

“Trying? I think I’ve been succeeding.” Emma argued weakly.

Anger flashed in the man’s eyes. He brought his hand to the side of Emma’s head, slamming the right side of her face into the table behind her. Emma heard something break, initially thinking it was her cheek bone. As she opened her eyes, it became clear that the lens that covered her right eye had shattered, leaving her hazel eye exposed to the lights and the man’s intense gaze.

Before Emma could say something else that would get the crap beaten out of her, Seth reached under her mask in the back of her head, grabbing a handful of her hair. He pulled her off of the ground and to her feet by her hair, before pinning her back to the table. His other hand reached towards his tuxedo lapel, pulling a knife out of one of the inner pockets. With Emma’s left hand pushing at the man’s arm in her hair, her right arm was exposed. Using his elbow, he pinned her right palm to the table. Slowly, he grazed the knife over her right arm.

“Listen here girl,” He spat, “I spent a lot of resources in this project, and for the past two weeks I have been very upset that it was unrightfully taken away from me before I could see what it would do.”

He pressed the knife down into Emma’s upper forearm. Tears sprung to Emma’s eyes as she yelled, strangled, in pain.

“I, for one, am still _ very _ curious as to what that spider did.” The knife continued traveling down Emma’s right arm, “shall we look closer?”

Emma screamed as the knife dug through her skin slowly and deliberately. Tears flowed freely, something that Emma would be ashamed of but _ damn _ does getting a knife put in your skin hurt. As the knife neared her wrist, Emma willed electricity to flow through her veins again, a last ditch effort to get him to stop. She couldn’t do it on command on any given day, but the situation must have kick started it. A sharp electrical current flew through her right arm, traveling through the metal knife, shocking it out of the man’s hand. 

Emma tried to move her arm, to no amount of success. To her immediate displeasure, the man drew another knife and pressed it to her throat. She swallowed thickly, to scared and tired to say anything clever, only willing the man to get on with whatever he was trying to do. Seth leaned to her ear and whispered menacingly.

“I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but if it’s trying to stop me you should give up now. You are not special, you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. You will _ never _be able to stop me. You won’t be able to save who you love.”

“You’re wrong.” Emma protested, her voice hoarse from screaming.

“Oh, am I?” He chuckled, “will you protect them like you protected Dr Lohst?”

Millions of volts of electricity shot out of Emma from every angle. Seth was flown across the room, taking his knife and a couple of strands of Emma’s hair with him. He lay motionless for a while, before groaning in pain.

Emma fell to her knees in pain, clutching her side with one arm and rubbing her head with another. She just wanted to sleep, she was so tired. Just a small nap wouldn’t hurt. 

Yelling coming from the other side of the door snapped Emma from her thoughts. She couldn’t sleep, she was still in danger. She limped to the table to grab her backpack before jumping back into the vents. Emma only vaguely knew how to get out, but it didn’t really matter if she was going the right way at the time. The only thing she knew was that she had to get away from that room. Eventually, she could start to hear the sounds from outside, mixed with something else.

_ Wise men say… only fools rush in _

Her phone, Alyssa was calling again. As tired as she felt, she wanted to pick up that phone, but she couldn’t do it there. It wasn’t safe. Emma resolved that once she got out, she would answer her phone, it gave her the motivation and strength to kick the vent cover leading to the outside night.

_ But I can’t help… falling in love with you _

Emma couldn’t say how many times the song repeated itself, only that she knew climbing over the wall back to the street and limping four blocks to her car. Finally in the safety of her truck, Emma pulled the phone out of her bag to look at her call log.

There was only one missed call from Alyssa, from when she was in the vent before she was found out. Alyssa hadn’t been calling her when she was exiting the vent system, Emma had been making it up in her head. Of course Alyssa wouldn’t have been calling, it was almost one a.m. Momentarily feeling like she was going to throw up, Emma willed herself to start the car and drive the five minutes back to Edgewater and her house. By the time she got home, most of her wounds had closed up, but she still felt so tired. All she wanted was to go get a glass of water then go to bed. Emma didn’t even bother putting on her regular clothes as she went into the house, quietly opening and closing the front door.

Emma limped over towards the kitchen, when a bright light stopped her in her tracks.

“Emma Nolan, what do you think you’re doing?” Betsy sat in a chair in the living room, illuminated by the lamp she had just turned on.

Emma turned to face her grandmother, face bruised and gashed from where the lens shattered. She was still clad in her suit, though most of the suit in the abdomen area had been blasted off, and a large cut in her right arm mimicked where the gash in her skin was. Betsy’s expression turned from anger, to confusion, to absolute horror. She stood abruptly from where she sat and moved towards Emma.

“Oh god Emma! What happened?” She cried.

“Gran-” Was all Emma could say, tears filled her eyes as darkness danced in her vision. The tiredness swept over her body as she collapsed to the ground, the last thing she saw was her grandmother yelling her name before the world went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm being too mean to these characters someone should take them away from me.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

The room smelled like cinnamon and hydrogen peroxide when Emma woke up. A sledge hammer must have been shoved through her head while she slept because her head was pounding. Her eyes eventually did flutter open, afternoon light shone through her window and into her room. The lights were off, letting only the ambient light shine on her teal walls. 

Emma swallowed, finding her throat impossibly dry. Squinting at her bedside table, she found her glasses, a Christmas scented yankee candle, and a glass of water sitting on the surface. Sowly, Emma reached for the water, only to find that her knuckles were wrapped in gauze and bandages. Curiously, she brought her hand to her face, sure she hadn't wrapped herself up. In fact, she wasn’t even sure how she made it to bed. Or what day it was.

Emma pulled her covers off of her body and tried to sit up, only for a sharp pain to course through her entire body. She looked down at her torso, which was covered in one of her pyjamas shirts (which she didn’t remember putting on). Hesitantly, she lifted up the material, to show that her entire abdomen was covered in bandages and gauze as her knuckles had been. When she looked at her right arm, the entire arm was also covered in bandages, making her look like some kind of half mummy. 

The memory of what happened to her arm suddenly hit her with all of the other events that had happened before she passed out. Being shot in the side, her back and head being crushed, her arm being sliced open, all of it. Emma wanted to cry, or scream. Or both. She remembered feeling so tired before she came inside and-

“Emma?” A gentle voice came from the doorway of her room.

Emma tore her eyes from her abdomen to look up at the person calling her name. Her grandmother stood in the doorway, a first aid kit in her arms. Her eyes were heavy, from sleep and concern.

“Gran.” Emma’s voice came out in a broken sob. She hadn’t even realised she had been crying.

In a flash, Betsy had set the first aid kit down and was at Emma’s side, enveloping her into a hug, firm, yet gentle enough to not hurt her wounds any further. Emma hesitantly wrapped her aching arms around her grandmother, taking in how safe she felt in that exact moment. The hug was over far sooner than Emma would have wanted. Her grandmother made steady eye contact with Emma.

“Emma Nolan, what happened to you?” Her grandma asked, stirn and earnest.

“I-” Emma started, but was cut off.

“And don’t lie to me,” Betsy practically begged, “I mean it with all my heart when I say I love every part of you. Please don’t hide any part of yourself from me.”

Emma broke down into sobs, being held in her grandmother’s arms. She went on for hours from the very beginning, the spider, the incident in the lab, losing Dr Lohst, going to pride, sneaking out to do the things the news told her about, then carefully explaining what had happened to her the previous night. The entire time her grandma listened intently, only stopping her ranting to ask a few clarifying questions, all of which Emma was able to answer easily. 

When she came to present day, Emma sat on her bed quietly sniffling a little. She knew she was in for the lecture of her life, but somehow it didn’t bother her as much, because it just felt so good to get her worrying off of her chest. A big surprise came when the lecture never happened. Instead, Betsy sat on the bed with her granddaughter, holding her like she was protecting her from the entire world.

“Emma,” She started, “you know this isn’t just your responsibility. It’s not your job to protect everyone.”

Emma closed her eyes and thought of what her gran was saying. It was something she always seemed to circle back to. She knew she couldn’t protect everyone, it would be impossible. But everyone _ deserves _ some kind of protection. The bullies at her school, and those who may have been ridiculed by their own villages, they all deserved to have someone watching over them.

“I know,” Emma said slowly, her voice still coated with tears, “but just because I can’t protect everyone doesn’t mean I can’t try to.”

“I thought you might say that, you stubborn kid,” Betsy sighed, placing a kiss to the top of her granddaughter’s head. “That’s why I fixed this.”

Moving off of Emma’s bed, Betsy went to the desk taking a box off of the surface. She placed it in Emma’s lap, motioning her to take the lid off. Not breaking eye contact with her grandma, Emma slid the lid off of the box, a familiar blue and red fabric stared up at her through the sides of the box.

“I found your patterns under your bed,” Besty held Emma’s hand as her other hand grazed the fabric of her uniform with the other, “some of your seams were uneven, but you did really well otherwise.”

“How could you possibly be okay with this?” Emma sobbed, floored by her grandma’s unwavering support.

“Belive me sweatheart, I still think you are absolutely stupid for doing this,” Bestsy shook her head, “But I also know that no matter what I say you’ll keep going out there and risking your life for people you don’t even know.”

Emma looked down at the covers of her bed.

“I have no idea how I ended up with a granddaughter as brave as you.”

Emma certainly didn’t feel brave walking into school on Monday. She had all weekend to heal, and even though she had some kind of accelerated healing, there were still many pieces of evidence of her skirmish on Friday evening, namely a particularly deep cut on her cheek from where her lense shattered, the full bandage up her arm, and her full torso bandage. Even though the students couldn’t see either her arm or her torso injuries, they could see the angry red slash across her cheek. Oh, how the kids whispered about that. Emma couldn’t find it in herself to care about that, because she knew that the world would be ending in two weeks, and she had a history report due tomorrow that she hadn’t even started.

The day at school ended, but Emma stayed to work on her report in the library. She sent her grandmother a text message:

**Hey, I’m going to be late coming home, I’m working on a history report in the library.**

Her grandma’s response made her smile slightly,

**Picture of the library or else I’m going to think you’re out being a superhero.**

Emma quickly took a picture of the library table with her report and notes sprawled out, including some book shelves of the empty library, and sent it. Her grandmother’s text came soon enough,

**Dinner is at 5, be home before then.**

Emma smiled and got busy on her report. She made it through a good 90 percent of the project before the librarian tapped her on the shoulder, letting her know that since she was leaving, Emma had to as well. Various papers and books were placed back into her bag as Emma checked the time, 4:30, plenty of time to get home for dinner. 

With the keys to her car pressed in her hand, Emma prepared to walk through the parking lot to her car. A soft voice from under the student waiting area awning stopped her in her tracks.

“Emma?” Alyssa stood, dark hair pulled into a ponytail, a sweater was pulled over the James Madison High School cheer uniform she was wearing.

Emma swallowed nervously, “Hey Alyssa.”

Alyssa smiled at the sound of her name, walking closer to Emma until they stood face to face. 

“What are you doing here so late Em?” She asked curiously.

“I could ask you the same thing.”

Alyssa laughed, “Emma, it is very obvious why I’m here,” Alyssa gestured to the cheer skirt visible underneath her sweater, “cheer practice got out like, two minutes ago, I’m waiting for Kalyee and Shelby, they’re my ride.”

“Oh,” Emma said dumbly, trying not to look at Alyssa’s toned legs for too long, “well, I was just working on that history assignment in the library, I guess I didn’t realise how late I was staying.”

The two stood staring at each other for a moment, neither completely knowing what to say. Alyssa bit her lip a couple times, before opening her mouth,

“Emma, I-”

She was cut off by the sound of her own name being yelled. Both girls looked over to the direction of the field, Emma internally groaning as Shelby and Kalyee approached Alyssa. They either didn’t notice Emma, or were flat out ignoring her.

“Hey Alyssa!” Kalyee called, “Nick and Kevin invited us to a pre game party tonight, you in?”

Emma’s heart skipped a couple beats as Alyssa moved a little closer to her side, trying to shield herself from the other two girls.

“No, I’m okay.” Alyssa’s eyes were downcast, really looking like she’d rather be anywhere having any different conversation than this, “I told you I wasn’t going in the locker room. You guys still said you’d drive me home then.”

Shelby snorted like Alyssa was making some funny joke, “Yeah, that was then, this is now.”

Alyssa looked up at Emma with ‘done’ written all over her face. Emma almost laughed at her expression before Alyssa’s hands were taken by Kalyee’s. Alyssa’s face turned from exasperated to pure ‘help me’ as Kaylee tried to pull her from Emma’s side. 

“Come on Alyssa,” Kalyee grinned, “It’ll be a good time. We’ll take you. Get you away from this crowd.”

For the first time since the conversation started Kaylee and Shelby recognized Emma’s presence with not-so-subtle looks of distaste. While personally, Emma could care less about what those two said, Alyssa was taking their behaviour very seriously. She pulled her hands from Kaylee’s grip, fire in her eyes.

“I said I’m not going.” She repeated, more forcefully.

Kalyee and Shelby exchanged glances nervously.

“Alyssa,” Shelby started slowly, “you can’t possibly want to hang out with this… freak” she gestured towards Emma, “than with us.”

Emma could visibly see something inside of Alyssa snap. She moved right by Emma’s side, taking her hand in her own. She glared at the other cheerleaders, who shrunk back a little at her glare.

“Emma is not a freak,” Alyssa growled, “she is my friend, and I don’t care if anyone knows that. She is caring and she listens to me and she is a great friend.” Alyssa raised her chin defiantly, “which is more than I can say about you.”

There was a beat of silence as they all processed what Alyssa was saying.

“Holy shit.” Emma gasped, looking down at Alyssa, who was smiling at her.

Things were looking pretty well for the two of them, before the football players showed up. Ryan, Alex, and Jacob, all football players on the varsity team, walked up behind Kalyee and Shelby, unaware of the initial conversation. 

“Hey ladies,” Ryan said, (refering only to the cheerleaders of course, Emma didn’t count as a lady anymore), “You all need a ride to Kevin’s place? He and Nick are almost done setting up.”

The boys suddenly picked up on the tense atmosphere, “What’s going on here?” Alex asked.

“Emma is trying to convert Alyssa to lesbianism,” Shelby accused widely, pointing a slender finger in Emma’s face.

“I’m not.” Emma rolled her eyes pushing Shelby’s finger away with the back of her hand.

“No she’s not!” Alyssa exclaimed, more concerned about the situation than Emma was. 

In reality, if the football players wanted to throw down, Emma was more than ready to take them on. She had fought men and women twice their size and four times their maturity level every day for the past week and a half. This would be a cake walk.

“Well,” Jacob cracked his knuckles, trying to be menacing, “maybe we should show Emma what happens when she tries to kiss one of our own.”

Emma rolled her eyes, getting ready to fight. _ Pathetic _ she thought, feeling less than threatened as they ‘warmed up’ by cracking various points in their body.

“Yeah,” Ryan sneered, “and while we’re at it, let’s remind Alyssa we don’t take too kindly to those who try and listen to the dyke either.”

Alyssa’s eyes widened in fear.

“What?” Shelby and Kalyee asked at once, suddenly very concerned about the situation as well.

Emma didn’t hear them though. She bristled the moment they said Alyssa’s name. She pushed Alyssa behind her to shield her. This was it, the true test of courage. If Emma couldn’t protect Alyssa, she was convinced she couldn’t protect anyone. 

“Do _ not _ bring her into this.” Emma growled.

“She brought herself into this,” Ryan countered, as if it was obvious she needed a beating too, “we do like Alyssa though, so we’ll make it quick.”

“Like Hell you will” Emma snapped.

“Oh yeah?” Alex laughed, “are you gonna stop us?”

_ Oh my god just throw the first punch already _.

Emma got her internal wish granted as Jacob got tired of waiting and swung at Emma. It may have seemed fast to onlookers, but compared to professionally trained raid members, Jacob must have been a sloth. Emma caught his punch easily in her hand, squeezing and turning his fist into an uncomfortable position. Jacob gasped in surprise of the pain and the fact that Emma was fighting back. 

Not learning from Jacob’s mistake, Alex swung at Emma from the other side. This time, Emma leaned back to dodge the punch, letting Alex’s fist connect into Jacob’s jaw. As Alex crossed over Emma to follow through with his punch, Emma brought her knee up to slam it into Alex’s stomach, making him to double over in pain. Taking Alex by the collar of his work out shirt, Emma pushed him into Jacob, who was currently nursing a sore jaw because of Alex’s misplaced hit. The two boys toppled to the ground, looking like they weren’t going to get up anytime soon. 

Emma looked up to the last boy, who was standing in shock over Emma taking down two football players at once.

“Do you still wanna fight?” Emma asked innocently.

Ryan bringing his foot to try and kick Emma in the stomach answered her question. Emma caught his foot mid kick, pulling it so he would fall onto his back. He hit the pavement with a thud, but scrambled back up to his feet. This time, instead of going for Emma, he threw a right punch at Alyssa, who was standing off to the side. He missed hitting her face, instead going a little high and hitting the right side of her head, just above her ear. Alyssa hadn’t been prepared for the hit, knocking her off of her balance and sending her to the floor. 

Kalyee and Shelby might have been yelling something to get Ryan to stop, but Emma definitely didn’t hear them. All she could see was him grinning triumphantly over Alyssa as she nursed the side of her head. All Emma could see was _ red _. 

Emma lunged forward, grabbing him by the sides of his shirt and slamming him into a lightpost. The force knocked the air out of his lungs. He tried to struggle out of Emma’s grip but Emma wasn’t holding any of her strength back any more. The mighty glint in his gaze was gone, only immense fear was written over his features. 

Emma leaned in really close to his ear, making sure no one else could hear what she was going to say:

“That’s going to be the last thing you ever do.”

Ryan’s mouth opened in shock as Emma pulled away from his ear. Her knee connected to his solar plexus as hard as she could, which was really hard. Ryan gasped in pain, and Emma let go of his shirt to let him fall to the ground. She stood over him as he struggled to get up. The moment he got on his knees, ready to throw a punch, Emma brought her own fist down on his face. When he managed to get all the way on his feet, he lunged at Emma with his arms open. In a fluid motion, Emma brought a roundhouse kick to his face, sending him to the floor. His eyes closed as he lay unconscious on the cold cement.

Shelby and Kaylee were still there yelling something out of fear incoherently, but Emma knew what she was doing. She knelt down by Alyssa’s side, the brunette still holding her head in her hands.

“Are you okay ‘lyssa?” Emma asked softly.

“Yeah,” Alyssa nodded slowly, “just a little sore. I’m okay.”

Alyssa looked at the three football players on the ground.

“They sure aren’t though.” She commented with amazement.

Emma blushed, “I don’t really know what came over me…”

“Whatever it was, I’m glad it _ did _ come over you,” Alyssa eyed Emma suspiciously, before shrugging the expression off. She lunged forward and gave Emma a hug.

“My hero.” she whispered so softly, Emma wasn’t sure if she was supposed to be able to hear it or not.

The moment was cut short by a banged up Alex trying to pull himself off of the ground.

“You bitch!” he yelled, “wait until my parents hear about this, you’re going to be fucking expelled!”

Oh right, Emma had just fought three guys on campus, and she threatened and then beat the shit out of one of them. She probably wouldn’t be expelled since she didn’t throw the first punch, but she would be suspended for a long ass time. 

“I didn’t see Emma fighting.” A voice piped up.

Emma and Alyssa both looked up at Kaylee and Shelby standing on the sidelines of the fight. They looked shocked, but confident in what they were saying at the same time.

“I didn’t see Emma fighting,” Shelby repeated, “did you see Emma fighting Kalyee?”

Kaylee hesitated for a moment, looking between Emma and Alyssa.

“No,” she said after a while, “all I saw were three boys fighting, I didn’t see Emma at all.”

The two conscious football players huffed in indignation, but didn’t say or do anything else while Emma was there. Hobbling off of the ground, they retreated down the street, their tails between their legs. As they ran, Alyssa managed to get on her feet again, Emma helping her up. Alyssa held onto Emma’s arm and made eye contact with her two co-cheerleaders.

“Thank you,” she said, “for covering up.”

Emma nodded, afraid to say anything else in case the two girls changed their minds. Instead they simply nodded.

“Sorry about…” Shelby paused, “all of this.”

Kalyee rubbed her arm, “We didn’t think they’d go after you too Alyssa.”

Alyssa’s eyes narrowed as her grip on Emma’s arm tightened, “just me? So you were totally fine with Emma getting the crap beaten out of her?”

“N-no?” Kaylee stammered, “t-that’s not what I meant.” Though her tone did imply that is what she meant.

“What she means is…” Shelby interjected, not looking at Emma, “listen, Emma was handling her own just fine.”

“And what if she wasn’t?” Alyssa contested, gripping Emma’s arm like she was going to disappear at any moment, “What if she couldn’t hold her own?” Alyssa’s voice cracked at the end of her statement, all three girls were a little startled to see how concerned Alyssa was getting over this hypothetical. It made Emma’s heart ache a little, wanting nothing more than to tell Alyssa she would always be able to hold her own.

Meanwhile, Shelby and Kalyee avoided eye contact with both Emma and Alyssa. 

“We…” Kalyee paused, visibly looking like she was reaching for the right thing to say, “We’ll talk tomorrow.”

Awkwardly, Kalyee and Shelby scurried away, their heads aimed towards the ground. Emma let out a breath of relief as they felt, leaving only herself and Alyssa standing on the curb. Alyssa pulled herself away from Emma’s arm, turning so they were standing face to face again. 

“Emma-”

“Alyssa-” 

They spoke at the same time, stopping their trains of thought simultaneously as the other spoke. Whatever they were going to say was lost to light laughter over the slight awkwardness of the situation. After all, what do you tell your friend when you, not typically athletic person, take down three boys in hand to hand combat without breaking a sweat?

“You first.” Emma spoke between her small giggles.

Dark brown eyes locked with bright hazel. Emma thought she could get lost in them forever.

“Emma, I-”

Alyssa’s words were cut off by her phone ringing. Alyssa gumble to herself as she pulled her phone out of her bag.

“One sec…” Alyssa sighed as she dug through her millions of books.

Emma chuckled at her exasperation looking through the bag, “Take your time.”

Alyssa’s expression fell as she looked at their caller ID.

“It’s my mom, I’m late coming home.” She gripped her phone in fear.

Emma pulled out her own phone to look at the time. _ Shit _, she swore internally, the time on the phone reading 5:07.

Alyssa smiled apologetically as she accepted the phone call, “Hey mom.” Stray dark brown hair was tucked behind her ear nervously, “no, I’m still at school,” a pause, “I thought you were picking me up?” The shake of Alyssa’s head signaled to Emma that her statement was a lie, “Okay, yes, sorry mom. I’ll see you in a bit.”

The moment Alyssa hit the end call button she groaned, “my mom is coming.”

“I gathered.” Emma smiled.

Alyssa pushed Emma’s arm gently, smiling brightly. Emma couldn’t help but mimic her smile.

“I should probably go,” Emma sighed.

Alyssa reached for Emma’s hand like she had before, “Em, I don’t care if my mom sees me with you.” She added quickly.

Emma’s eyes widened at the earnesty in Alyssa’s voice. _ Is this what a heart attack feels like? I think I’m having a heart attack _. Emma blushed brightly as she squeezed Alyssa’s hand in reassurance.

“That’s really sweet ‘Lyssa.” Emma swallowed, “but I was supposed to be home, like, ten minutes ago.”

“Oh!” Alyssa reluctantly let go of Emma’s hand, her cheeks now tinted a slight pink as well, “I guess I won’t keep you from your grandma’s wrath.”

Emma laughed, “Thanks for your support.”

Alyssa handed Emma her bag from where she had set it down for the fight, “see you later.”

“See you,” Emma turned to her car.

The blonde had only walked a couple paces before pausing on the asphalt. Something about the way Alyssa was looking at her had just set her heart on fire. She didn’t just want to walk away.

“Alyssa?” Emma turned around on the black asphalt, a couple feet from where Alyssa stood on the curb.

“Yeah?” Alyssa looked so hopeful.

“I-” Emma bit her lip, her head spinning from that gorgeous look in Alyssa’s eyes, “I’m almost ready to talk.”

Alyssa’s entire face lit up like a Christmas tree, “I’ll be here when you are.”

Emma drove home, buzzing with excitement over what she had said to Alyssa. She was going to tell Alyssa everything, she just had to figure out how without giving her best friend a heart attack. 

The teenager kicked her shoes off at her house at 5:36. Her grandmother’s voice rang at her from the kitchen.

“I sure hope you have a good reason for being late,” Betsy called, “and whatever that reason may be better not end up on the news.”  
A small confident smile played on Emma’s lips.

“I was defending my best friend by taking out three football players that threatened to beat her and I for just talking to each other.”

“Hilarious,” Betsy poked her head out from the kitchen, “where were you really?”

Emma said nothing, simply raising her eyebrows as she moved to set the table. The gears in Betsy’s head turned as she studded her granddaughter.

“Emma Nolan!” She cried swatting her arm with a towel. Betsy tried her best to look upset, but the pride she felt in Emma for finally standing up for herself without a mask seemed to overwhelm her features. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me? Adding in other characters just to portray them as mean? More likely than you think. (sorry Shelby and Kaylee I love ya'll I promise)


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter includes a subtle blink-and-you'll-miss-it Spiderman:Homecoming reference

Chapter 12

Wednesday was dark and raining all day, and god damn it was  _ cold _ that evening. Emma was freezing down to her bones as she “searched for trouble”. She had even put on thermal leggings on underneath her suit in addition to her normal sports bra, but her legs still shivered as she pulled herself away from the latest attempted robbery she had stopped before it became an actual robbery. The robbers in question weren’t part of the Raid, causing Emma to simply leave them tied up at the bank for the police to handle. She was a week and a half away from when the super virus would be sent out, and while she was making progress on learning how to infiltrate the base, she was still at a loss as to how to stop the supervirus she was sure being held at the base. Right now, what Emma needed was to go home, take a hot bath, then test how fast she could take out an electric fence. Also see if she could take out an electric fence.

The drive home allowed Emma’s mind to wander. The meeting she had snuck into on Friday evening hadn’t been a total ass kicking for her. She knew what she had to stop, and she knew that fucking Seth was going down for fucking up her arm. Emma grip on her steering wheel tightened as she thought of his disgusting hand in her hair, and how his knife dug into her arm, and how helpless she felt-

Emma shook her head, trying to focus on the road rather than her traumatic thoughts. She drove through Edgewater, getting closer to thawing her cold muscles in a bathtub. In the rush of that day, Emma hadn’t brought any ‘civilian’ clothes to wear besides a thin jacket. Why was she rushing? Well…

The moment Emma had decided she was going to tell her grandmother about her intentions to come clean about her superhero identity to Alyssa, Betsy had been more than supportive. Like,  _ way _ more than supportive. Besty could read Emma like a book, knowing the real reason Emma wanted to tell Alyssa. Because Emma liked Alyssa and couldn’t stand not talking to her for extended amounts of time. Emma had contemplated telling Alyssa on Tuesday, but she chickened out. Then she told her grandma, and Betsy took that information to pester Emma about it every chance she got. When she got home from school, she quickly got changed into her suit, leaving as quickly as she could to avoid another conversation about her deep caring feelings for her best friend with her grandmother. So she left her regular clothes in a shopping bag on her bed, and now she was freezing to death because her truck had no heater.

Her truck pulled to a stop on the curb of her house, as another forgien car was parked in the driveway where she normally parked. Narrowing her eyes at the unfamiliar car, she texted her grandmother.

**Is there someone over at the house?**

Besty’s response came not a moment later.

**Yes, Sabrina and Emily are playing Five Crowns with me tonight.**

Emma groaned, card nights with her grandmother’s friends meant they were sitting at the dining room table right next to the front door. If she went in they would see their friend’s granddaughter in a Spider-Woman suit, and no matter how much protesting Emma could do, they would most definitely know who she was. And if there was one thing the older women of the town could do, it was gossip.

**I don’t have any regular clothes to change into, I’m going in through my window. Don’t come charging in with a bat if you hear something.**

Emma tossed her phone into her jacket pocket, slipping out of the car to be bombarded with the freezing rain tinted air. The floor of her room was too creaky, if she was going to be quiet enough to not attract the attention of Emily or Sabrina, she was going to have to go on the ceiling. Looking around for anyone on the street, Emma slid the window of her room open, hopping through the opening. Immediately, she noticed that her door was wide open. The blonde huffed, blowing her short hair out of her face. Her mask in her mouth and her phone and keys in her right hand, Emma crawled up the wall of her room quietly, slowly sliding the window closed with her foot. Emma breathed in a little relief as the heated air from her house surrounded her, then as slowly and quietly as she could, she made her way across the ceiling towards the open door, listening to the laughter and chatter of the three elder women outside of her room. She nudged the door closed with her hand wincing as it creaked before closing completely. 

She released herself from the ceiling, gracefully landing on her feet almost silently. No sounds of alarm rang from the dining room, as Emma listened to them laugh good naturedly, her grandmother’s two friends unaware of the teenager sneaking into the room down the hall. Emma sighed in relief as she turned from her door towards her bed. 

Freeze.

_ Fuck _ .

Alyssa was standing at the foot of her bed, the news article on her phone long since abandoned on the comforter of her bed. The two just stared at each other, Emma’s mind drawing a complete blank as she stared at Alyssa. Alyssa was staring at her like she had just seen a ghost, and the ghost was Emma. And Emma had grown a third head. 

Alyssa pointed at the ceiling then back at Emma, “you’re Spider-Woman.”

Emma snapped to attention, stuttering inchoherintly. Not really knowing what else to do, she took her jacket off quickly before undoing the zipper of her suit, letting it fall to her ankles, leaving her in her sports bra and leggings, all the while stuttering, “N-no! N-no I-I’m not! It’s j-just a costume.”

“Emma! You were on the fucking  _ ceiling _ !” Alyssa’s voice raised in panic, “The ceiling!” 

“Yes,” Emma started but stopped herself, “wait- no! I wasn’t! You- you’re dreaming.”

Alyssa ran her hands through her hair, freaking out in the exact way Emma didn’t want her to when she did find out. 

“What the fuck??” Alyssa wailed, “Emma! You are gonna die!”

Emma at that moment realised how loud they were being, laughing from the dining room had stopped, replaced by confused murmuring. 

“Okay,” Emma huffed, kicking the suit off of her feet as she moved to Alyssa. She put her hand over her friend’s mouth earning surprise stifled yelling, “‘Lyssa I know you’re freaking out but you gotta be  _ quiet _ ”

Emma’s frantic pleading was cut off by feeling something wet and gross on her hand. She yanked it off of Alyssa’s mouth in disgust.

“Alyssa!” Emma gasped in horror, “did you just  _ lick my hand _ ?”

“That’s not what we’re focusing on!” Alyssa squaked, “we are focusing on the fact that you are-”

“Ladies, what’s going on in here?” Betsy casually opened the door to quite the sight. Emma’s suit was sprawled out on the floor while her aforementioned granddaughter stood in only her bra and leggings, holding her hand close to her chest. Her friend looked absolutely horrified about the situation she was in, looking terrified and embarrassed all at once. 

“Nevermind,” Betsy turned around and started closing the door, “keep it down in there ladies!”

Emma sighed as her grandmother left the room, Alyssa was less than impressed. She pointed at the door wildly.

“Does she  _ not know _ ???” Alyssa cried, albeit a lot quieter than she was a couple seconds ago.

Emma rolled her eyes, “yeah she does know, but it’s not like I  _ wanted _ her to!”

Alyssa ran her hands through her hair again her voice becoming a little louder, “how long has  _ she  _ known?”

Emma shushed her again, “I don’t know, like, four days? Four and a half I guess?”

Alyssa stared at her in shock, “you have been doing this for almost two weeks and your grandmother didn’t know about it until  _ Saturday _ ?”

“Well, I mean, I’ve been doing this for like, three weeks, I just didn’t get the suit or the identity until Pride.” Alyssa started to hyperventilate, “okay but you didn’t need to hear that. Breathe Alyssa, it’s okay.”

“No it’s  _ not _ !” Alyssa snapped, “I’m supposed to be your friend! I’m supposed to know when something like this is going on!”

“Alyssa,” Emma said sternly, “you didn’t know because I didn’t tell you.”

“But  _ I _ should’ve  _ known _ !” Alyssa cried, “I  _ knew _ something was going on with you but I just didn’t ask because I was scared of what you might say! Damn it, I should’ve asked sooner, I could’ve helped you,” Alyssa bowed her head as tears spilled out of her eyes, “I should’ve asked” she repeated, almost in a whisper that time.

Emma sat Alyssa down at the foot of her bed, “Alyssa listen to me. Even if you did ask I wouldn’t have told you.”

Alyssa sniffled, looking up at Emma, “why?”

Emma rubbed the back of her neck as she sat next to Alyssa, “same reason you didn’t ask in the first place, I was scared of your response.” Emma took a deep breath as she let her emotions spill out, “scared you were going to think I was a freak, scared you were going to think what I was doing was wrong, scared you were going to freak out.”

Alyssa wiped some of her tears away, “I guess that last part did come true. I’m sorry.”

“I was thinking more of a freak out in a bad way,” Emma hesitantly wrapped her arm around Alyssa’s shoulders, feeling the worry pass away as Alyssa brought a hand up to rest on her own, “freaking out like you were going to be mad at me for keeping this from you.”

“I’m not gonna lie, I’m a little upset you didn’t tell me,” Alyssa squeezed Emma’s hand before she could pull her arm away, “I’m way more upset at myself for not realising it sooner.”

“There’s no way you could’ve known.” Emma pointed out.

“Oh Em,” Alyssa laughed lightly, “you are not very good at being subtle.”

_ Jesus I really hope she’s talking about my powers. _

“Emma, when did it happen?” Alyssa paused before adding, “I think I already know, but I want to hear it from you.”

“It happened on the field trip to Oscorp Labs.” Emma pulled Alyssa a little closer to her, “I was bitten by a genetically modified spider, and it altered my DNA.”

Alyssa leaned her head on Emma’s shoulder, “and that incident that happened at the lab that weekend, that was you too?”

Emma swallowed thickly, “Yeah, that was me. I went to the lab to find out what was happening to me. That’s where I met Dr Lohst, he made the spider. He-” Emma’s voice cracked, “he was going to teach me how to do all of this but then that man…” Emma trailed off, suddenly back in that filing cabinet, Dr Lohst’s last words flashed in her mind, his confident look. “I couldn’t save him.”

Alyssa brought her thumbs to wipe tears off of Emma’s cheeks.

“I’m so sorry Emma.”

“Damn it Alyssa,” Emma sobbed harder, “he believed in me. If I don’t win, I’m going to fail him all over again.”

“Win against what Emma?” Alyssa stared right into Emma’s eyes. Emma told Alyssa the entire situation with the Raid, their plans to eradicate the entire state, how Emma had to break into their super complex and secure compound to stop them. It took a solid hour or so, Emma going through all of her plans to Alyssa while she listened in rapt silence. At some point Emma could tell that her grandma's friends had left and her grandma had gone to bed. The two went over Emma’s plans in detail for a while before Emma finally lead Alyssa to her stand still, explaining how she still didn’t know how to stop the virus or take the organization down completely.

Alyssa hummed in contemplation, “wow” was all she said.

“Yeah, wow.” Emma echoed. She flopped down on her bed, facing towards the ceiling, pretty emotionally exhausted from how her evening was going. “Wait a minute.” Emma propped herself up on her elbows to look at Alyssa “how’d you get into my room anyway?”

Alyssa looked at Emma for a moment, before fully realizing that she was referring to the fact that someone must have let her into the house at some point.

“Oh, your grandma let me in.” Alyssa stated blankly.

“Uh huh,” Emma was not very impressed by her grandmother’s antics. When she reached for her phone to check her messages, a half hearted response from her grandmother an hour ago displayed itself on the lock screen.

**You might not want to go into your room** .

After a moment of looking at the time stamps on the messages, Emma knew that her grandmother had sent that text long after Emma had gone into her room from the window. Emma shook her head at her grandmother’s antics, making a mental note to bring it up with her. When Emma looked at Alyssa to inform her of her grandma’s shenanigans, she saw Alyssa starting at her torso intently. The blonde suddenly felt very self conscious and very aware she wasn’t wearing a shirt. She awkwardly crossed her arms over her stomach, covering the large bandage that still covered most of her abdomen. Emma’s movements snapped Alyssa out of whatever she was thinking, as her eyes shot back up to Emma’s face, her cheeks tinted pink. Alyssa remained quiet for a moment, before her brain to mouth filter started to malfunction.

“You’re like, ripped now Em.” Her eyes traveled back to Emma’s arms before averting her eyes completely.

Emma started laughing, only making Alyssa blush harder.

“It’s just an observation!” Alyssa protested.

“I know, I know,” Emma managed to make out between full bodied laughter, “I just can’t believe one of the first things you do after you find out I’m a superhero is tell me I’m ripped.”

“Well maybe if you’d put a shirt on!” Alyssa laughed along with Emma, picking a stray shirt off of the ground and chucking it at Emma’s head.

“Oh! I’m sorry!” Emma wheezed, balling the shirt up and throwing it back at Alyssa, “does me not having a shirt on count as an invitation for you to check me out?”

Alyssa squawked in indignation, shoving Emma onto her back from her initial sitting position on her bed. She crawled to the side of her laughing friend, taking Emma’s hands and pinning them at her sides. Alyssa was almost triumphant over Emma, before the blonde caught on to what her friend was doing. 

“Oh Alyssa, you fool.” Emma smiled wickedly.

“What do you mea- Agh!” Emma broke free of Alyssa’s hands without much trouble. In a split second, Emma successfully got Alyssa onto her back. The taller teen was able to climb onto the shorter’s torso, grabbing her hands and pinning them by her head. “No fair!” Alyssa squirmed under Emma’s impossibly strong grip, “you got super strength!”

Emma laughed, “you started it!”

Their noses were touching, their eyes were impossibly close. Not for a moment did they break eye contact. Emma tried to run through the events that lead them to this situation, only for her mind to draw a blank. All that mattered was being this close to Alyssa, how easy it would be to close the gap between their lips. Suddenly, an all too familiar sensation of her hair standing on end and a voice washed over Emma’s body.

**Your grandma is coming abort ABORT** .

Emma scrambled off of Alyssa so quickly that she missed the immense disappointment in the dark eyes beneath her. Pushing herself onto the other side of the bed to leave plenty of room for Jesus, Emma sat and looked at her door impatiently waiting for it to open.

“Hello again girls, it’s getting late, Alyssa should probably head home.” Besty opened the door, she was already in her robe and hair rollers, “I could give you a ride home Alyssa.”

“I can give her a ride Gran,” Emma offered, “if you need one.”

Alyssa nodded, “yeah, I should head home.”

Betsy smiled brightly, “good, I’m glad we got this all sorted out.”

As she turned to leave Emma called out to her grandmother, “Alyssa knows now, by the way.”

Betsy brought her hand up to her mouth in fake shock, “Oh goodness me! I would’ve never guessed this happening.”

“You’re an awful meddler, I’m not ever going to have a secret identity.” Emma rolled her eyes, earning a small chuckle from Alyssa.

“Oh no, I’m a meddler?” Betsy fanned herself dramatically as she closed the door, “how ever will I get over such a condition?”

The door clicked shut, Emma sighed, “Ridiculous.”

Alyssa laughed again, “I think it’s nice she cares,” Alyssa studied her curiously, “Emma, did you know she was coming?”

Emma nodded, “yeah, it’s like a spider sense or something. It only works if my heads mostly clear.”

“Interesting,” Alyssa nodded, “What other powers do you have?”

“I got a list,” Emma dug around in her desk drawer, pulling out the notes she took from the lab report, “do you wanna look over them? They’ll take forever to explain.”

Alyssa nodded furiously, holding her hands out in a grabbing motion for the papers in her friend’s hands. Emma handed them to her, observing as she pressed them to her chest protectively.

“Thank you for trusting me Em.” Her eyes sparkled.

“Thanks for waiting while I figured out that I could.”

They smiled warmly at each other, making any other chill in Emma’s bones fade away. 

“I’m going to… put a shirt on. Then I’ll drive you home.” Emma motioned to her dresser as she pulled out a fresh T-shirt from one of the drawers.

The drive to Alyssa’s house was simple enough. They didn’t really talk about the situation, Alyssa instead giving quiet directions to Emma as they drove down dark and abandoned streets.

“This is it.” Alyssa spoke quietly, both girls were feeling the effects of the late night already.

Emma shifted the car into park and unlocked the doors, allowing Alyssa to leave the car. 

“Bye Emma,” Alyssa started to move out of the car.

“Wait, Lyssa.” Emma spoke up, “I forgot to ask you something.”

Alyssa looked back at Emma with sleepy eyes, “yeah sure, what is it?”

“Why did you come to my house? Why did you wanna talk to me?” Emma held her breath in anticipation for Alyssa’s response. The response didn’t come immediately, Alyssa chewed on the side of her cheek as she thought of her answer.

“I guess I wanted to apologize a little, I felt like I was pressuring you into talking to me.” Alyssa shrugged.

Emma cupped Alyssa’s face in her right hand.

“I’m glad I did talk to you.”

Alyssa leaned into Emma’s touch for a moment. After a second in each other’s embrace, Alyssa took Emma’s right hand in her own. Gently, she brought the bandaged arm up to her lips, kissing it lightly.

“Get better Em.”

Emma’s heart hammered in her chest as Alyssa left the car for her house. Suddenly, her sore right arm was feeling one hundred times better.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

“So,” Alyssa burst through the door to the band closet, “can you really lift a car?”

“Uh,” Emma’s attention snapped up from her chemistry notes to the curious and unafraid to ask questions Alyssa, “I dunno? I’ve never tried.”

Alyssa hummed in contemplation as she took her seat next to Emma. She pulled Emma’s list of powers out of her backpack and started to riffle through the pages.

“Alyssa!” Emma blanched, “you can’t just carry that around!”

Alyssa scoffed patting Emma’s shoulder, “I’m not flashing it at anyone who looks at me, and before you ask, I didn’t show anyone that voice memo either. I just went over both of them last night and I have some questions.”

Emma eyed the large stack of paper warily, then back at Alyssa. Her friend stared at her with wide curious eyes. She would admit, the text message that she received the night prior asking if Emma could send her friend the voice memo from the meeting she dropped in on was a bit of a red flag. This was another weird feeling. This is what Emma wanted, wasn’t it? It’s going to feel nice and freeing being able to tell Alyssa what she could actually do. At the same time, Emma couldn’t help but feel nervous talking about her abilities. Like suddenly if she told too many people it would be too real, like she couldn’t just take back being a hero. But looking into Alyssa’s eyes, sea of brown and understanding and curiosity and  _ brightness _ , the butterflies in Emma’s stomach suddenly felt at bay.

“Okay,” Emma breathed, “what do you wanna know?”

Alyssa beamed as she flipped through the neatly organized sheets of binder paper (which Emma had not previously organized). Small fragments of Alyssa’s printer-neat handwriting stood out against Emma’s messy scrawling.

“Okay so that was an ‘unsure’ on the car…” Alyssa trailed off as she made a small note next to something she had written previously, before flipping through the papers again, “how much webbing do you produce? Do you run out?”

Emma chewed on the side of her mouth as she thought back, “I’m not sure how much, but I don't run out. Well, not technically, I just get tired and the webs get thinner if I use a lot.”

Alyssa clicked her pen in and out, putting a small check mark next to one of her notes, “Interesting… how fast do you heal?”

Emma shrugged, “faster than normal? I think most of the time it just keeps me from dying when I lose too much blood…” Her words faded into whispers towards the end of her sentence. Subconsciously, she started to rub her right arm. The large wound had finished healing the previous night, leaving no trace anything had happened there, not even a scar. Still, while Emma slept or sometimes when she was awake, she could still feel the pain, a phantom, burning a line down her arm.

Alyssa’s eyes softened as Emma’s words trailed off. Switching her writing hand from her right to her left, she grasped Emma’s hand in her own, giving it a relieving squeeze. 

“This is really great Em,” Alyssa smiled, “It's really helping my plan take form.”

“Helping your wha-” Emma tried to question Alyssa’s mystery plan, but the aforementioned planner cut her off with another question.

“Your sting, how many volts of electricity does it produce?”

“It varies…” Emma narrowed her eyes at the brunette, trying to see what she was getting at, “I can’t really do it on command though.”

“She can’t do it on command…” Alyssa paroted thoughtfully, jotting something down amongst the notes on the sting. She turned a few pages to reveal only her own neat handwriting, scribbling out a line and replacing it with a question mark.

“Lyssa, what is that?” Emma leaned closer to Alyssa to try and see what her detailed notes described.

“This?” Alyssa asked innocently, holding the paper up to show what was written on the page, “oh, this is just how you’re going to take out the Raid base.”

Emma stared at Alyssa, searching for some kind of sign she was kidding. All she saw was complete sincerity. Emma’s jaw hung open as she snatched the papers from Alyssa’s hand, the later grinning mischievously the whole time.

“How? When?  _ What _ ?” Emma flipped through Alyssa’s meticulous multi step plan. The steps detailed exactly how Emma would get into the base, how to navigate through it, the only thing that was missing was taking out the virus. That step had been scribbled out and replaced by a question mark. To Emma’s even greater surprise, the package included an entire blueprint of the base, “Alyssa! How did you get this?”

Alyssa smiled, “Emma, did you do any research on this building?”

“What?” Emma scoffed, “of course I did!”

“Oh yeah?” Alyssa crossed her arms, smiling like a child keeping a secret from their parents, “who sold the building? Who was the realtor?”

“Um,” Emma hesitated. Maybe she hadn’t done a whole lot of research on the building before the Raid owned it.

Alyssa bit her lip, “take a guess.”

Emma squinted at Alyssa’s vagueness and avoidance of answering the question, “is this revenge for me being secretive the past three weeks, cause I really am sorry.”

Alyssa snorted, “no its not. Well, maybe it is a little bit. It’s really cute when you think hard though, your nose scrunches.”

_ She thinks you’re cute what the fuck _ , Emma flushed bright red.

“I do not,” Emma rubbed her nose.

“Yeah you do.” Alyssa laughed, all bells and jingles.

What were they talking about earlier? Oh yeah realtor. Emma tried not to scrunch her nose as she thought about any realtors she knew. To be fair, Emma really didn’t know a whole lot of people. Just her grandma and Alyssa, and Alyssa’s mom from what her friend had told about her. Wait, Alyssa’s mom was a realtor. Snapping her eyes away from Alyssa’s face, she looked down the blueprints again. In the bottom right corner was a neat realtor logo. It stared back, beaming “Greene Reltors.”

“Your  _ mom _ ,” Emma laughed, “does she have all the blueprints for every building she’s sold?”

“Just the ones she had difficulty selling,” Alyssa tapped on the blueprint, “she spent months trying to find someone to by this place. That’s why your address sounded so familiar, she constantly talked about selling this place. Nobody wanted it because it had extensive crazy tunnels underneath it.” Alyssa turned the page to reveal another layer of blueprints, an extensive tunnel system revealing itself in the prints. “The vents go down into the tunnels. That’s how you’ll get around, because-”

“There’s no way they’d put their illegal stuff on the first floor, they’d keep it underground.” Emma finished Alyssa’s thought.

Alyssa tapped the notes, “My mom, being a control freak, also keeps track of any alterations to the building. Including any cameras installed.” She reached over and flipped a page, “I know where all the cameras in the base are called.”

“Lys,” Emma breathed, trying to focus on either the amazing gift from heaven or the blueprints in front of her, “this is… incredible.”

Alyssa shrugged, “I know you’re kind of scattered when it comes to planning stuff like this, remember that time you tried to plan a friend hang out?”

“That was  _ one time _ ,” Emma flushed in embarrassment at the thought. She had tried to plan a time where she and Alyssa would go hang out as friends by getting ice cream together. Emma had been so scattered planning it she kept changing the date and time on Alyssa and ended up planning the event the same day Alyssa went to cheer championships out of state.

Alyssa was right though, Emma’s main problem in taking the raid base out was the lack of a solid plan on how to do it. Then, here Alyssa was, coming in and helping Emma in every way Emma didn’t know how to help herself. Emma struggled to find a way to convey how much this meant to her.

“You didn’t have to do all of this Lys.” Nice.

Alyssa smiled, somehow knowing all of what Emma wanted to say hidden behind her words, “I know, but I wanted to. We are a team now Emma, there’s no stopping me now.”

“Okay,” Emma breathed, “yeah, okay, we’re a team.”

“Damn right we are,” Alyssa nudged her shoulder, “Now, back to the plan,”

The two girls went over the entire operation during the lunch period. The Raid would go down on Sunday morning, when the base would be emptiest (‘I can’t  _ believe _ they still go to church’). Emma would break in underneath the guards and electric fence, through an underground entrance on the other side of the street. The entrance was covered by cement, something Emma would have to kick in, and was also probably covered by a parked car, which Emma would have to move.

“That’s where that whole, being able to lift a car thing comes in,” Alyssa reasoned.

“I don’t know if I can,” Emma paused, “can we just hotwire it and drive it out of the way?”

“Do you know how to hotwire a car?”

“Okay, point taken, continue.”

Once inside the underground system, Emma would be able to break into the vents that ran through the underground area. From there, she would be navigated by Alyssa to the largest room in the underground system. There, the two reasoned, would be where the virus would be housed, as that was the largest room and the room that the most electricity went to. 

“Then, I’ll activate the alarm outside the room as a distraction-”

“You’ll  _ what _ ?” Emma gasped, “Alyssa there is  _ no way _ I’m going to let you go down there!”

“I’m not! I’m not!” Alyssa waved her hands, putting them on Emma’s shoulders. “I’ll still be in the car, I’ll activate the alarm repotely, using the computer, you just have to plug in a flash drive to get me in.”

Emma visibly relaxed, “You can do that?”

“I didn’t join the computer software club for nothing,” Alyssa smiled michevoulsy.

Once Alyssa activated the alarm, Emma would drop from the vents into the room. The plan would be for her to web up everything that contained the virus. Then, since hypothetically the webs conduct electricity, Emma would zap the virus, deactivating it.

“You got that from my notes and a voice memo?”

“Yeah,” Alyssa shrugged as if it was nothing, “that guy in your recording said that the virus can’t stand extreme environmental circumstances, to cold, too hot, too much electric charge… but now I don’t know how to introduce the electric charge-”

“I can figure it out.” Emma interjected quickly.

Alyssa cocked one of her eyebrows, “you sure?”

Emma swallowed, “Yeah, I’ll figure it out, I’ll get it under control.”

Once Emma would disarm the virus, she would, as Alyssa put it, ‘get the fuck out of there’.

“Wonderful.”

“I know, I know,” Alyssa sighed, “I just don’t know what’ll happen once you disarm the virus. You’ll just have to  _ go _ .

“And you’ll be my getaway driver?” Emma joked weakly.

“Well, I can’t drive, but I’ll be you getaway passenger?” Alyssa offered.

“Eh, good enough.” Emma smiled. 

The warning bell broke through the moment. Reluctantly, the two packed up their things. Emma heled Alyssa off the floor.

“Meet me at my house after school, I’ll text you the address.” Alyssa said casually.

“Yea- wait, what?” Emma stared at Alyssa incredulously, “what about your mom?”

“She’s at work until seven.”

“Don’t you have cheer practice?”

“I’m ditching,” Alyssa laughed as if it were obvious, “I just need help moving something.”

“Moving what?”

Alyssa smiled and opened the door to the closet, “guess you’re going to have to come over to find out!” She called over her shoulder, leaving Emma in the closet alone.

“A car?” Emma deadpanned, following Alyssa into her overgrown backyard, “you want me to move a car?”

“Yep!” Alyssa popped the ‘p’ cheerfully, “My… dad, he worked on this junker for years. He left it here when he ditched us, and it has been sitting over here ever since.”

Emma stared at the rusty old… she wanted to say Cadillac? Emma really wasn’t a car person.

“Bestie?” Alyssa looked up at Emma with singsong in her voice, “will you move the car for me?”

Emma’s mind almost short circuited as Alyssa’s sweet brown eyes before she remembered what was being asked of her.

“Lyssa,” Emma crossed her arms, “your mom will one hundred precent notice if that junker so much as moves an inch.”

Alyssa scoffed, “Please, if there is one thing my mom and I have in common it’s that we have zero clues about cars,” Alyssa smiled to herself before continuing, “She however, doesn’t know that I know less about cars than she does. For all she knows is that I’ve been sitting under that car trying to get it to work. I actually just text you under there.”

A red tint fought its way to Emma’s cheeks, “so she won’t suspect anything?”

“Nope, I’m positive of it,” Alyssa grabbed her arm leading her all the way into the yard, “We have to know if you can actually lift a car, you won’t be able to get into the base otherwise.”

Emma sighed, Alyssa really had a point, “Fine, where am I putting it?”

Alyssa smiled, very pleased with herself, “just on the other side of the yard.” Her narrow finger pointed to a clearing on the other side of the yard.

“Okay.” Emma nodded. In a swift movement, Emma shrugged off her flannel. Her grey tank top finally saw the light of day as her arms became completely exposed. Emma could have sworn Alyssa’s gaze dropped to her torso, and she definitely saw her friend’s face turn a few shades of red. Emma wandered over to the rusty car as Alyssa took a seat on the step of her back porch. The blonde stretched her arms awkwardly as her friend watched her intently. Emma hesitated under Alyssa’s stare as she prepared to lift the car.

“A-are you going to stare at me?” Emma called awkwardly.

“Are you going to lift it?” Alyssa shrugged.

Emma sighed in response, she was a firecracker, and most definitely impossible. Fixing her grip on the front bumper, and avoiding Alyssa’s gaze, Emma lifted the car with relative ease. The steel monster wasn’t as heavy as she thought it would be. Being careful as to not hit anything in the yard, Emma walked the car over to the other side of the yard, placing it in the clearing. Emma brushed the rust off of her hands by clapping them together as she stepped back from the car.

“Holly crap, that was amazing!” Alyssa’s delighted squeal in her ear made Emma jump up two feet in the air.

“Jesus, Lys!” Emma bent over, catching her breath, “did you teleport over here or something?”

“I was following you as you moved the car.” Alyssa laughed, “did your little spider sense not let you know that I was behind you?”

“No,” Emma caught her breath enough to stand up straight again, “It usually only goes off if I’ll be in danger or trouble.”

“Well,” Alyssa linked her arm through Emma’s, “I’m glad it knows I’m no threat.”

_ Oh wow I’m having another heart attack _ .

“It doesn’t know how competitive you are at Mario Kart.” Emma joked, bringing her other arm up to rest her hand on Alyssa’s hand.

“It must know how much I love you.” Alyssa muttered to herself. Emma was certain she wasn’t supposed to hear what Alyssa had said, but she couldn’t help but feel exhilarated hearing it. The wind was practically knocked out of her lungs as she flushed bright red at what Alyssa said. She  _ loved  _ her, her crush was mutual. This had never happened before, and it gave Emma a rush of happiness. Without her consent, a jolt of electricity ran through her excited body. Ran right through her hand and on Alyssa.

“Ouch!” Alyssa cried, pulling her arm away from Emma in an instant. Emma’s stomach dropped as Alyssa held her arm close to her chest, her brown eyes becoming a glittle glassy as hot tears of pain sprung to them.

“Oh my God! Alyssa, are you alright?” Emma reached her hands out to console her friend. She felt like sobbing when Alyssa flinched away from her touch. Faster than the electricity coursing through her veins, Emma pulled her own hands close to herself. Shame ripped through her body as she barely whispered, “Alyssa I’m so sorry.”

“I, I just-” Alyssa let out a shaky breath as she contemplated what she was going to say, “It just hurts.”

An unbearable guilt crushed Emma’s chest as Alyssa looked up, stray tears falling down her face, her eyes wide with surprise and a touch of fear that made Emma want to jump off of the tallest building in Indiana. Emma caught Alyssa’s gaze travel back down to Emma’s hands, backing up again at the sight. Emma’s eyes searched Alyssa’s scared expression before looking down at her own hands, letting out a startled cry as she did. Her hands sparked with an uncontrolled blue energy, and the more she tried to make it stop, the more electricity flew from her hands. All this because Alyssa said she  _ liked _ her. Emma’s eyes stung with tears as she looked at what she had done to Alyssa, small lightning marks lining the front of her hand. 

“I’m so sorry.” Emma sobbed before she did the only thing she knew how to do: run. Brushing past Alyssa, being careful not to touch her again, she grabbed her flannel that she had thrown aside, making the lint and fibers on it stand on end because of the electricity. She booked it out of the yard, ignoring whatever Alyssa was yelling at her. It was a good thing she ran fast because she was able to run in the direction she parked without anyone seeing where she was going. Ignoring how her keys easily conducted the electricity from her hands Emma unlocked her car sitting in the driver’s seat practically shaking with fear and guilt. The more she thought about what she had done, the more uncontrolled her electricity got. Various things in the car turned off and on as Emma sat there, the radio flicking on and off even though her keys weren’t in the ignition, the speedometer going up and down despite the truck not moving. Emma’s breath was ragged as one thought echoed through her mind:  _ she got hurt and it was all your fault _ . Emma cried electric charged tears as she continued to feel miserable, not even bothering to drive away, knowing she’d get in an accident driving in her state.

A gentile knocking on her window pulled her from her awful thoughts.

“Emma, unlock the car.”

No matter how much Emma wanted to follow Alyssa’s request she firmly shook her head.

“N-no.”

Alyssa pressed her hand on the window, pointedly keeping her injured arm away from where Emma could see.

“Why won’t you unlock the car Emma?” Alyssa patiently asked.

Emma gestured wildly to the cab lights that were currently turning on and off, “I-I am going to hurt you again!”

Alyssa pressed her forehead against the glass, “I know you’d never do it on purpose.”

Emma shifted in her seat, staring at Alyssa through the glass. Giving into temptation, she rolled the window down, again, not needing to insert the key into the car, the electricity powering the dormant battery. 

“I forgot you had super hearing.” Alyssa admitted awkwardly, slowly placing her hand over the windowsill, “I didn’t mean for you to hear that. I’m guessing that’s why your powers started freaking out?”

Emma nodded simply, noticing how Alyssa’s hand was slowly gravitating towards her. The fear of hurting Alyssa again caused her to move away from it slightly, “did you mean it?” 

“Um,” Alyssa hesitated, biting her lip and flushing bright red. She hung her head, “yeah, I did. I’m so sorry Emma.”

“Why are you sorry?” Emma asked blankly, wanting to do nothing more than reach out and tilt her head up, but she couldn’t touch her.

“Because you totally don’t feel that way about me and I just thought that you are really the only person who understands me and I can’t believe that I let myself feel this way and I’ve just made this so awkward and you have more important things to worry about than your friend’s crush on you and-”

Powers be damned.

Emma surged forward to stop Alyssa mid-sentence, capturing her lips with her own. Alyssa let out a surprised gasp before her eyes fluttered closed and she melted into the kiss. Like a magnet, Alyssa found Emma’s hand, taking it gently in her own. Emma immediately jerked back in fear of touching Alyssa with her hand and shocking her again, before she realised she wasn’t. All of the electricity had found itself at bay suddenly, the lights all going off in the cab of the car.

“You…” Emma whispered, out of breath and full of life at the same time.

Alyssa laughed gently when Emma’s sentance died on her lips, “me.” She prompted Emma to finish her sentence.

“You, are important to me.” Emma pressed her forehead against Alyssa’s practically whispering into Alyssa’s lips, “your feelings are important to me. You got me though that night at the meeting.” she admitted.

Alyssa shook her head gently, “I almost got you  _ killed _ at that meeting, when I called you.”

“After that,” Emma’s sting-free hands found their place on either side of Alyssa’s face, “when I was leaving, I- I kept hearing the ringtone I set for you. I would have fallen asleep in the vents if I hadn’t heard it, I would’ve given up. But  _ you _ and the thought of seeing you again, that’s what got me out of there.”

“Oh Emma,” It was Alyssa’s turn to lean forward and capture Emma’s lips into another kiss. Emma held Alyssa’s face close, holding her like she would disappear if she loosened her grip in the slightest. Alyssa’s hand found its way behind Emma’s neck pulling her closer. Was this the time for Emma to be aggressively kissing her best friend? Probably not. However, she had waited too long to do so she knew she had to do it now. The moment of pure bliss seemed to cut itself short when Alyssa pulled away from Emma. 

“Are you okay?” Emma suddenly shot up to attention, wondering why Alyssa pulled back. 

“Yes and no,” Alyssa smiled sheepishly, her hand still firmly around Emma’s neck, “I’m just a little far away from you.”

Emma looked at Alyssa to realise that the girl was still outside of her truck, behind the locked door. 

“Oh, shit, sorry.” Emma made quick work of unlocking the car, the two teenagers only pulling out of each other’s embrace for long enough to open the car door to let Alyssa into the cab. She very clumsily clambered onto Emma’s lap, swinging her legs over the blonde’s and pressing her back up against the closed driver’s door. For the first time since being in the backyard, Emma was able to see the hand she shocked. Unbearable guilt crushed down on her again as she examined Alyssa’s hand, small scars in lightning patterns covered her hand, dispersing at her wrist. 

“I’m so so sorry for hurting you Alyssa.” Emma let out another sob.

Alyssa shushed her soothingly, “It doesn’t even hurt anymore, I know you would never do that on purpose.”

Emma placed a feathered kiss to the hand, “I promise I’ll never hurt you again. I don’t want you to ever be scared of me again.”

Alyssa nuzzled her face into the side of Emma’s neck, “I could never be scared of you.”

“You certainly looked like it.” Emma sighed.

Alyssa pulled away from Emma’s neck, “Emma, I swear, I wasn’t scared of you, I just…” Alyssa let out a shaky sigh, “I was just… scared your powers would harm you. Like your own body wouldn’t be able to handle the volts. And I was the one who caused it.”

“Hey,” Emma placed a kiss to her temple, causing Alyssa to relax slightly, “I’ll be able to hold my own. You just freaked me out is all.”

“Dito.” Alyssa punctuated the statement with a quick peck on Emma’s lips. If they were going to finish every conversation like that, Emma would definitely not be complaining. With a newfound sense of boldness, Emma leaned forward to capture Alyssa’s lips into another kiss, something Alyssa gladly reciprocated. The two explored each other’s personal space for a minute before Alyssa pulled away, causing Emma to chase after her a little.

“Em,” Alyssa giggled as Emma placed feather like kisses by the corner of her mouth, “Emma.”

Emma moved to start pressing kisses to Alyssa’s cheek, “hm?”

“Emma, you horny teenager, we have stuff to talk about!” Alyssa squealed in delight, her half hearted insult falling on Emma’s ears when the taller girl started kissing her neck.

“Oh  _ I’m _ a horny teenager?” Emma gasped, laughing into Alyssa’s neck, “Your the one who’s practically straddling my lap. Or do I have to remind you of the time you were totally checking me out without my shirt on?”

Alyssa rolled her eyes, “You’re never going to let me live that down huh?”

:Nuh-uh, never”, Emma moved her kisses back to Alyssa’s mouth, where Alyssa turned her face so Emma would kiss her cheek again.

“I’m serious Em,” Alyssa turned to look Emma in her eyes again, “we need to talk about how we feel.”

Talking about how she really felt was one of Emma’s least favourite pastimes. 

“Okay,” Emma looked bashfully at Alyssa, “You first?”

Alyssa nodded, “I suppose it’s fair, I did say how I felt first.”

The brunette situated herself so she was sitting up straighter in Emma’s lap, giving her a few inches on Emma in her sitting position, making the blonde have to look up into Alyssa’s eyes for a change.

“Okay, so that time I told you I was gay,” Alyssa paused, “I left out a reason why I didn’t tell you immediatly.”

A smile crept up on Emma’s face as she placed a few things together, “You didn’t tell me you were gay because the reason you knew you were was because of me.”

Alyssa flushed red, “Yeah, pretty much. All the time spent with you in the band closet and texting you, I just felt so free to be myself. To laugh and joke without feeling I was walking on eggshells. And you were always so real…” Alyssa shrugged, “I realised I cared about you more than anyone I knew. I guess people call that a romantic intrest,” she laughed at her own joke, “so a couple of quizes later and exisential crisis later, I figured out I was gay, specificaly gay for  _ you _ .”

Alyssa leaned down to peck another quick kiss to Emma’s lips before resituating herself so she could lean her head on Emma’s chest.

“Your turn” She said simply.

Emma shrugged, trying to pinpoint exactly when she started to feel this way about Alyssa, “I suppose I started to feel something before the incident. I thought it was just a girl crush fascination since you were like, my only friend. I think I started to realise those feelings were a lot more after I became Spider-Woman. I felt like I was doing it to protect people, but most of all to protect the people I love. You just fit into that category so well.” Emma pressed a kiss to the top of Alyssa’s head, “you are also rediculously pretty, and I’m a useless lesbian, so that helped.”

Alyssa laughed loudly, “you are a usless lesbian aren’t you?”

“Yep,” Emma smiled brightly as they met each other’s eyes again, “but I’m  _ your _ useless lesbian. You said it yourself I’m your romantic interest.”

Emma wiggled her eyebrows goofily, causing Alyssa to laugh and place her face away.

“Is it too late to trade you?” Alyssa insulted half-heartedly.

“It is too late.” Emma confirmed, taking Alyssa’s hands in her own, “you’re stuck with me, weird powers and shit included.”

“It’s a good thing I love every part of you. Weird powers and saving the world, and all that shit.”

What did Emma do to deserve this amazing girl?

“Alyssa Greene.” Emma smiled, “will you be my girlfriend?”

Alyssa smiled with the force of a million suns, “There’s no one I’d rather be with.”

Alyssa leaned her head onto Emma’s chest, as Emma let her hand curl through Alyssa’s hair. Yes, it was as soft as she imagined it would be, softer even.

“Babe,” Emma rake her hands through her new girlfriend's dark brown curls, taking note of how Alyssa sighed contently at the nickname, “When is your mom going to be home?”

Alyssa didn’t bother removing her head from Emma’s chest to look at the time, “probably soon.”

“You should probably go,” Emma sighed, not wanting to know what would happen if Alyssa was caught in a strangers pickup truck a ways from her house.  
“I should,” Alyssa placed a trail of kisses from the base of Emma’s neck back up to her lips, “or I could stay here and keep kissing you?”

“Oh sure I’m the horny one.”

Alyssa pulled herself away from Emma to open her mouth, no doubt to say how offended she was about the insult being brought back around, but the other girl beat her to the punch.

“You could stay here, but I’m not going to let us get caught by your mother.”

Alyssa groaned, face palming herself, “God, my  _ mother _ . She’ll kill us if she finds out about us!”

Emma snorted at the thought of Alyssa’s Dress Barn clad mother trying to murder her, “she can  _ try _ .”

Alyssa shifted herself out of Emma’s lap, sitting next to her with her head in her hands.

“Emma, you don’t know her. She’ll find some kind of bug spray and kill you before you could even say that you like me.”

“Okay, I know you know that’s not how it works, but I’m gonna say that’s not how it works anyway.” 

Alyssa didn’t respond to Emma’s words. She continued to sit motionlessly next to Emma, the thought of her mother find out about her clearly weighing down on her shoulders. After a moment of silence, Alyssa pulled her head out of her hands, her gaze pierced Emma’s heart, a somber combination of fear and guilt.

“Emma, I’m scared what will happen if she finds out.” Alyssa barely whispered her fear, immediately turning her face back into her hands.

“That’s fair, I understand not wanting to tell her,” Emma moved to rub soothing circles into Alyssa’s back, something Emma knew from her friendship with Alyssa made her feel better when she was stressing out. Emma hesitated as she searched for a way to sooth Alyssa’s worrying. Emma didn’t have anything to lose if she said she was dating a woman, everyone already knew that’s what she wanted in life. Alyssa had things to lose, things Emma had already lost. Her reputation, her family, most of her friends. Emma wouldn’t wish for anyone to lose those things.

“Your mom doesn’t have to know, no one will have to know.”

Alyssa pulled away from her hands to look at Emma once again, “You would do that for me? Em, that’s going to be really hard.”

Emma took one of Alyssa’s hands pressing a kiss to it, “It’ll be worth it, for you.”

“Okay,” Alyssa breathed heavily, “okay, yeah, we’re a team. Taking down bad guys-”

“Dating in secret,” Emma finished with a beaming smile. 

The two girls sat in the old truck together for a while, breathing in each other’s presence and reveling in their close proximity.

“Alyssa, isn’t that your mom’s car?”

“Shit.”

Mrs Greene did not see Alyssa in the truck with Emma, though she did ask what Alyssa was doing outside when she got home. Emma was very relieved when Alyssa said that her mother believed her lie of getting the mail, despite not having any mail or mail keys. 

**That’s good, that she didn’t expect anything**

**Yeah, our secret was almost blown within twenty minutes of us having the secret**

**Speaking of our secret… are we ready for the plan?**

**I think so, we do it this Sunday?**

**Yes.**

**Let’s take them down**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not even a little sorry about how this is turning out
> 
> Also, only one chapter this week! Next week will be our big finale, with a short (ish) epilogue to follow


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

The energy in Emma’s old pickup truck was electric on the way to Evanstown. The superteen kept stealing nervous glances at her girlfriend as she traveled down the highway, yet her said girlfriend kept her eyes on the road. Emma could always tell when Alyssa was nervous, studying for a chem test or driving her home a little too close to curfew, but now, in this car, Alyssa radiated the nervous energy more than she had ever before. 

A dingy laptop was nestled in Alyssa’s lap, her dark curls flipped in the wind. The windows were opened a crack, letting a chilly winter wind sweep through the cab of the car. A calm before the storm, so to speak. Emma herself had already donned her uniform, the top part of it was covered by her canvas jacket that was protecting herself from the wind from her own cracked window. 

“I don’t like how your grandma doesn’t know what we’re doing.”

Emma’s eyes flicked off the road towards her passenger, who was looking out of her window. Nervously, Emma’s hands tightened on the steering wheel, remembering the look in Alyssa’s eyes when she had realised that Emma’s grandma was not in on the heist they were about to go to. 

“I know, I don’t like it either.” Emma’s eyes returned to the road, “but if she knew what we were actually doing, she would barricade us in the house and never let us go anywhere again. She would never let us do this.”

Alyssa’s grip on the computer in her lap tightened as she muttered, “maybe we shouldn’t.”

Emma’s brows furrowed at Alyssa’s words, “why would you say that?”

“You and your stupid hearing,” Alyssa grumbled, “I’m saying that this is super risky, I’m worried Emma.”

“I know it is,” Emma pulled off of the highway down a city street, they were getting close, “you don’t think I know how ridiculously dangerous this is? I do. But letting them use that virus is more dangerous.”

Alyssa said nothing, instead reaching her hand over the console and opening it for Emma. The blonde gladly removed a hand from her steering wheel to clasp it in her best friend’s hand. Alyssa gave it a reassuring squeeze, not looking away from her window.

“You are stupidly selfless.” Alyssa sighed, gazing out at the business warehouses they were beginning to pass.

“I’ve been told it’s one of my great faults.”

“By who?”  
Emma snorted, pulling to the curb alongside their destination, “you.”

The rusty truck was put in park and suddenly everything became real. Emma was really doing this, storming the Raid base, stopping their masterplan, finding out how to stop them for good. Her ultimate goal of stopping the bad guy was coming to fruition, and it was pretty petrifying. 

Next to her, Alyssa was booting up the laptop, simultaneously pulling various supplies out of her bag. Getting ready for the mission. Emma soon mirrored her actions, shredding her jacket and pulling out her mask from her own bag. She didn’t pull it over her face quite yet, turning to Alyssa instead. Her girlfriend was silent as she pulled up complicated software on her computer, typing in a few things before taking a flash drive out of the USB port and handing it to Emma. For the first time since they had left the house, Alyssa turned to look at Emma. She had that worried look in her dark brown eyes, something Emma desperately wished she could take away.

“This flash drive is what you’re going to use to get me into their security system.” Alyssa pointed to the blueprints of the building she had set out on the console, “there is a security console under this vent, that’s where you’ll plug in the flash drive.”

Emma nodded as she remembered where it was in relation where she would enter, two lefts, a right, another left, then two rights.

“Okay, got it.” Emma reached for the flash drive only to have Alyssa pull it away at the last second.

“Em, it is  _ imperative _ that you don’t leave this in the console, if a guard were to see it, the base would probably go into lock down and you’ll be trapped in the vents.”

“How will I know when to take it out?” 

Alyssa smiled, “with these.”

From her bag, Alyssa pulled out two slim black ear pieces and showed them to Emma from the palm of her hand.

“I found them in the attic a couple weeks ago, I couldn’t believe they still worked,” Alyssa placed one into Emma’s ear and the other into her own, “this way, I’ll be able to talk to you and you’ll be able to hear my instructions.”

A large wave of comfort washed over Emma as she realized she wouldn’t be in the base alone, she would have Alyssa. Plus, coms were definitely something that superheroes wear. 

“Okay, I think we’re all good to go,” Alyssa tucked the flash drive into Emma’s hand, “you ready?”

For the first time in a long time, Emma actually was feeling like she could do this. The red mask covered up her blonde hair, leaving her mouth exposed. From behind the mask, Emma searched Alyssa’s brown eyes, melting almost immediately when all she could find was the emotion she was unable to place weeks prior, love. Slowly, Emma was able to press a quick, yet lingering kiss to Alyssa’s lips.

“I am.”

The sealed entrance to the base was, as expected, underneath a parked car. Moving through the strategically planted trees along the sidewalk, the young hero moved through the cover of dawn. The sky was still an inky black, but the slightest hint of light was coming up over the horizon, giving our protagonist the cover she needed to move the parked Honda Civic out of the way. 

“Testing, testing. How’s it going?” Alyssa’s voice came in through Emma’s left ear.

Emma glanced down the street where she could see her girlfriend waiting in her truck. 

“You can see me.” Emma deadpanned, starting to kick the thin layer of asphalt under her foot. The tin layer cracked easily under Emma’s strong kicks. Revealing a steel vault like opening underneath her.

“I know,” Alyssa protested, looking over the dashboard from where Emma was opening her secret entrance, “I guess I’m just anxious.”

“I get it,” Emma stood up from the opening in the ground, gazing over to where Alyssa sat, “I’ll be back before you know it.”

With that, Emma jumped into the opening in the ground, plunging her sight into darkness. The hallway she was in clearly had places where lights could be, but it seemed that no electricity was being directed in the abandoned walkway. The only light was coming from where Emma had entered. Taking a deep breath Emma walked down the hallway, one hand on the wall to keep from stumbling. 

“I’m in.” Emma whispered through her earpiece, unsure of who may be lurking in the shadows.

“Good,” Alyssa affirmed on the other line, “you remember where you need to go to enter the vents?”

“Down the hall and to the left.” Emma nodded to herself, forgetting that Alyssa wasn’t able to see her do so. 

“Correct.” Alyssa affirmed, Emma could almost hear the sweet smile in her voice.

The silence in the hallway was putting Emma on edge, every one of her steps made her just a little bit more nervous. She kept one hand firmly grasped around Alyssa’s flash drive, the other on the wall. There were various rocks on the floor, from where the ceiling was collapsing on herself. Eventually, the darkness was broken by fluorescent lights down the way, a roll of caution tape spareting the base from the dark abandoned tunnel to the rest of the base. Nervously Emma swallowed, determining going on the roof would be more advantageous of stealth than her loud footsteps. Sticking to the cement ceiling, Emma hung a left into the artificially lit hallway, eyes constantly searching for the vent and any other person. Soon, Emma was able to spot the vent at the top of the wall on the right. 

Looking around for any sign of anyone coming, Emma released herself from the top of the hallway landing gracefully on the ground. 

“I found the vent opening, I’m going in.”

With as much tact as she could, Emma pulled the vent cover off of the wall, and slid inside. So far, so good. No one had spotted her and she was on her way to the security control panel.

“Okay, I’m in the vent system.”

“Great! So now the security control panel two lefts, a right, another left, then two rights.”

It was a really good thing Alyssa was able to play person in her ear because at that point Emma had already forgotten how to get to the station. Quietly, Emma crawled through the much more spacious vents, but for some reason they felt even tighter than the ones from the fancy meeting house. She just need something to remind herself that she wasn’t alone.

“Hey Alyssa, If I don’t die, I think we should go to this really good pie place in Indianapolis.”

“Okay, first of all, you're not going to die so don’t even joke about that,” Emma flushed slightly at the determination in Alyssa’s voice, “second of all, is this really the time to be talking about our date?”

“There is no time like the present Lys,” Emma hung her first left, “anyway, I know you’re not an apple pie person but they have a really good pumpkin pie.”

Alyssa gasped in offence on the other line, “are you Emma Nolan, are you implying that their pie is better than your grandmother’s?”

“Perish the thought,” Emma whispered, passing by a vent opening, “It’s a good second place though, far away from anyone we know, they probably have cool Christmas decorations up.”  
“Sounds amazing,” Alyssa hummed in approval through Emma’s earpiece as the teen hung her second left, “I can see us out now.”

“I can’t wait to hold your hand in public,” Emma went to the right, “that sound so dumb, just wanting to hold your hand in public.”

“It’s a valid want, “Alyssa protested, “trust me, I want to hold your hand too.”

“Look at us, two bad bitches, holding hands in public.”

Alyssa laughed, “sure, you’re crawling through a Raid base, but holding hands with me makes you a bad bitch.”

“Well, Spider-Woman is the hero here crawling through a Raid base, Emma will be the one holding your hand.” Emma reasoned.

“Doesn't matter to me, I know you’re the same person,” Alyssa paused as Emma turned to the right the second time, “Even if I didn’t, I know which one I like more.”

Another right, “Spider Woman?”

“No you dolt, Emma Nolan.”

Emma smiled bashfully as she turned left, “I like you too Alyssa Greene.”

“I got the hint when you kiss me the other day.”

Emma grinned, “I did kiss you, didn’t I?”

“Don’t tell me you forgot?” Alyssa teased.

Another left, she was getting closer.

“How could I forget? You started to make out with me.”  
Alyssa scoffed, “You definitely started the make out.”

“Lies.”  
“We’re getting off topic here Em.”

“While you're only saying that because you know you’re wrong, I am at the control panel.” Emma hovered over the vent cover, where she could see a computer like monitor pressed against the wall with a million wires point into the wall to various locations in the base.

“All I have to do is plug this in, right?”

“Right,” Alyssa affirmed, “Don’t leave it in the monitor.”

“Got it,” Emma popped the vent cover off, setting it next to her. Carefully, she poked her head out of the opening to check and see if the coast was clear. The sterile hallway was empty. Stealthily, Emma dropped from the ceiling, landing in front of the glowing screen, and buttons. Looking around one last time to make sure no one was coming, Emma was able to insert the drive into the console.

“Okay, just give me a sec.” Alyssa’s voice was laced with concentration as the sounds of a keyboard typing filled Emma’s ear.

Emma shifted between her two feet as she waited for Alyssa’s go ahead to remove the drive. Her stomach plumited when she felt all of her hair stand on and as a voice whispered,  **there’s someone coming** .

“Alyssa,” Emma whispered, bouncing on her feet nervously, “how much longer?”  
“Just a second…” Alyssa trailed off her full attention on what she was doing.

“There’s someone coming!” Emma hissed, seeing a shadow beginning to round the corner of the hallway. In a split second decision, Emmma jumped back into the vent out of sight. The shadow got closer, and Emma shot a thin web towards the flash drive. The footsteps got louder as the beating of Emma’s heart beat got faster.   
“Now!’ Alyssa’s simple word signaled Emma to pull on her web as hard as she could. The flash drive pulled out of the port and into Emma’s hand. Not a moment too soon, as the guard came into focus below her. Emma stifle a sigh of relief as she slowly replaced the vent cover, not drawing any attention to herself.

“Are you okay?” Alyssa’s staticy voice crackled into Emma’s ear.

“Yeah, I'm good,” Emma paused, “how do I get to the main room?”  
“From the control panel it’s a straight, two rights, left, straight, then another left.”

“Okay, got it.” Emma wordlessly moved through the vents. Partially remaining quiet to remember the directions, partially because her nerves were going crazy. Sooner than she would have liked she arrived at the vent opening for the main room. The sight she saw was not a pretty one. Large glass containers with ugly green solutions inside.

“Hey Lys, I found the room, the virus is in a solution right now, “Emma chuckled dryly, “it looks very stereotypical evil in there.”

“At least they’re staying on brand,” Alyssa laughed lightly in response. Her laughter stopped as her voice dropped low, “are you ready Em?”  
Emma swallowed dryly, “ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Alright, here go the alarms.” On cue, a loud wailing came from the hallway of the base, sending the few lab techs out the door, staticy green pistols in their hands.

Silently, Emma waited for the last of the workers to exit the room before she agily dropped from the ceiling to her feet. She allowed herself to take a sweeping view of the room. Large glass silos were lined up throughout the large room, while a large computer and workstation was placed in the center amongst the containers of death. The counter was littered with various sciency looking objects, microscopes, test tubes, beakers, the whole nine yards. It was also clear that there was no one else in the room besides Emma, all of the scientists abandoning their stations to see what the red alert was about. Emma’s gaze fixed on the two metal doors where the scientists had exited earlier, and the metal pole next to the doors caught her eye. She was easily able to slide it between the door handles and bend the ends together, effectively locking the door.

Figuring that would buy her some time, Emma wandered over to the raised workstation, looking at whatever it was the lab techs were hard at work on. Test tubes of the virus in its solution form were laid out across the table, and scratch pads filled with doctor level scratches were laid next to them. Curiously, Emma tapped at the computer monitor, which lit up from it’s dormant state when she tapped it. Looking back at the door then back at the computer Emma decided it would be an okay idea to scroll through the Raid’s files. Navigating her way to the computer’s desktop, a certain file caught Emma’s eye. A large file labeled “Membership status 12/13”

Heart pounding Emma opened up the file. Her head spun as she looked at the immense list of names on it. Each member’s age, residence, day job, and position in the Riad was listed. Another thing listed, how each member was enacted into the Raid. Most said ‘volunteer’ but others were listed as ‘sold’, ‘taken’, ‘blackmailed’. It made Emma’s heart ache desperately for those who were listed as such. Suddenly, Emma’s mind went into fast mode. With the list the police would be able to help those listed in joining against their will. They would be able to catch anyone who works for the Raid. Fumbling around in her suit’s pockets, Emma pulled out the flashdrive.

“Alyssa!” Emma whisper-yelled, “I’m looking at a list of every Raid member there is.”

“Holy shit, really?”

“Yeah, really. Can you download it onto the flashdrive?”

Alyssa hummed thoughtfully, “Probably? You’re going to have to give me a sec though.”

Emma surveyed the vast amount of Raid virus in the room.

“Take your time.”

Emma pushed the flash drive into the computer monitor and let Alyssa get to work on that. In the meantime, she had work to do.

Okay, step one, distract the scientists, check.

Step two, web the hell outta these silos.

Emma made quick work of wrapping an intricate web around the various silos, making sure every single one had some contact with the conductor webs. She may have been working at full speed, but there were a lot of silos to web at. Each moment she spent in the room, the more anxious she became for being found out. It soon became a process of jumping between the cylinders and wrapping them up, but a lot of webbing later, a thick web of conducting string was strewn about everywhere, looking less like an intricately made web of a Brown Recluse spider and more like a messy Black Widow’s web. 

Taking a step back onto the raised platform of the workstation, Emma took a moment to admire her work. She gripped tightly onto the webs in her hand, getting ready to charge up some electricity.

“Lys, get ready to say goodbye to the virus.” Emma said confidently into her earpiece. 

“And get ready to say hello to this membership masterlist I just downloaded.” Alyssa replied cheekily into Emma’s ear.

Step three, fry the virus.

Emma concentrated on making electricity flow through her like she had before. She thought of hearing Alyssa say she loved her, thought of how amazing her lips felt. Slowly, static built up around her hands. Emma was ready to let all of the current flow through the webs when all of her hair stood on end,  **watch out** .

_ Watch out for wha- _

Something hard and metal cracked against Emma’s skull, making her crumple to the ground in pain.  _ I couldn’t have gotten warned sooner about that? _ Groggily, Emma grasped onto the counter, the webs she once held in her hands had fallen out of her grip when she got knocked down. Her mind was slightly foggy from the hit, but the man towering over her made her brain instantly sharpen again.

“You.” Emma growled, pushing herself up to her feet. Standing in front of her was a grey man, bald up top, with his beard and mustache looking significantly less trimmed than the last time she had seen him. Seth held a metallic bar in his right hand, and man, he looked  _ pissed _ .

“I warned you to stay away little girl,” Seth’s voice was still coldly smooth, with anger peeking out of every word he said, “I told you that there was no stopping this.”

“Yeah, well,” Emma deepened her fighting stance, “I ignored you, it’s something teenagers do to their elders.”

“Emma? What’s going on? Who are you talking about? to?” Alyssa came out very staticy through Emma’s earpiece, but immediate worry in her voice was still very clear. Remaining quiet as to not let on there was anyone listening in, Emma remained quiet with her gaze fixed on the psychopath in front of her.

“Ah, so quick witted, like the last time we met,” Seth took a dangerously close step to her, “need I remind you of the last time we met? How your little party trick was the only thing that kept me from slicing your body open and-”

Seth’s words died on his lips and Emma punched him square in the jaw. The elder man held his jaw in pain, and he leaned on the table. No wanting to hear any more of what he had to say, Emma moved to kick him in the stomach to send him to the ground. As her leg moved closer, Seth pulled a knife out of his jacked with the hand not currently on his jaw and stabbed it into Emma’s leg. With a yell of pain, the teen immediately retracted her leg, pulling the knife out of her ankle and throwing it to the side.

“Fuck! What is with you and knives?” Emma swore as she made her way over to where her webs had been abandoned on the ground. 

From behind her, Seth lunged at her back, pulling another larger knife out of his coat and sinking it into Emma’s shoulder. Losing her balance on her injured ankle, Emma fell to the ground, taking the man down with her. Emma was able to push the man off of her back with her good leg, kicking him in the side just for good measure. Crawling closer to the strings, Emma started to charge up her sting, only to have Seth pull her off the ground and pin her to the back of the table. Instead of weilding a knife, Seth unlocked a pair of handcuffs and fluidly was able to chain Emma to the desk. 

“You know, I gotta say, you’re really fast for an old dude, what are you like, ninety?”

That clever comment was rewarded with another blow with Seth’s pole, this time to Emma’s stomach. He breathed heavily, clearly winded from the fight, while Emma barely broke a sweat. Though the loss of blood was making her brain to mouth filter a little fried.

“I have worked too hard to let some sass mouthing teenage girl ruin all of it for me.” Seth growled as he pulled a gun on Emma. The change of weaponry almost made Emma quip about him mixing up his arsenal, but her mouth thankfully stayed shiut, “it is because of disrespectful meddling teenagers such as yourself that this great state and country is going downhill. Worthless and ungrateful children.”

Emma was glad her eyewear was tinted so Seth couldn’t see how much her eyes were rolling.

“Now,” Seth cocked the gun and aimed it at Emma’s face, “any last words child?”

Smiling devilishly underneath her mask, Emma laughed.

“Well, since you asked, there is something you should know.” Emma pulled her free hand out from behind her back to reval the two strings of web in her staticy hand, “I’m also gay.”

The look on Seth’s face was reward enough for sitting through his stupid monolouge as Emma let as much electricity flow through the webs as she could. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion from then. Seth was angry enough to actually pull the trigger, making Emma move to the right ever so slightly to dodge the bullet. Around her, the entire room was lighting up like the Fourth of July. The power of the electricity made the virus unstable as Alyssa had predicted, neutralizing it. The solution turned from evil green to milky white and the liquid heated up and burst from it’s containers. Once those containers blew, everything snapped back into real time. 

Emma ducked underneath the desk to hide from the shrapnel around her. Seth wasn’t so lucky, the blast throwing him across the room and into the wall. The blast was so loud, it made Emma’s ears ring. Once the chain reaction of blasts was done, Emma hesitantly rose from underneath the desk. The room was an absolute cluster of blown glass bits and a shallow pool of watery looking milk. Everything was absolutely still.

Then the alarms went off.

Everything went super quickly for Emma then. She grabbed the flashdrive from the computer monitor and hopped back into the vent system. As she crawled away, she could hear the men in lab coats trying to bust down the door.

“Alyssa! How do I get out of here?” Emma hissed into her earpiece. Only static came through, and Emma realised she must have blown the com when she released the electric blast. Retracing her steps the best she could, Emma ducked and weaved through the vent system. She really picked up the pace when she crossed by the vent where the control panel was, she was getting closer. Eventually she made her way back to the hallway where she entered. Throwing stealth into the wind, Emma busted down the vent cover and sprinted down the dark hallway towards the opening in the street. She couldn’t quite tell if it was the adrenaline or the accelerated healing, but she could barely feel the stab wounds in her shoulder and ankle. Soon, the natural light of the outside world came into focus at the end of the tunnel. In a fluid motion, Emma jumped out of the underground tunnel and onto the street. 

Emma looked over to where her car was parked, to see Alyssa in the driver’s seat with her face pressed close to the glass of the window, looking for her. Limping over to the car as fast as she could, Emma got into the passenger side of the car and slammed the door shut. The two girls sat in the car, breathing heavily. Soon enough, Emma felt her mask being pulled off by someone. Her gaze fixed on Alyssa sitting next to her, timidly holding Emma’s mask in her hands.

“Are you… okay?” Alyssa asked hesitantly.

“Well, physically, I’m at a five out of ten.” Emma reached to tangle her fingers in Alyssa’s, “but I’m doing a lot better mentaly now that you’re here.”

Alyssa visibly relaxed at Emma’s words. There was a pause where the two were just able to hold one another’s hand. 

Emma eventually broke the silence by sighing, holding up the flashdrive.

“We should probably get this to the police.”

Alyssa snuggled closer to Emma, “probably.”

“We should probably get home before my grandma starts to wonder where we are.”

Emma felt Alyssa nod against her chest, “yeah, probably.”

“We should-”

_ BOOM _

Alyssa and Emma snapped apart at the loud explosive noise that came from outside the car. The two watched in horror as the base Emma was in not two minutes ago was set ablaze by an explosion under the building.

“We should probably go.”

Alyssa nodded quickly, already trading spaces with Emma to sit in the passenger seat, “yeah we should go.”

Emma and Alyssa arrived back at Emma’s house about an hour later. Emma had been bandaged up by Alyssa, and was currently back in her street clothes. They were both created by the television on full blast when they walked through the door. The news station was all abuzz.

“We’re here on the scene where a building in Evanstown went up in flames this morning. Sources say authorities haven’t identified the cause of the fire, but eyewitness accounts report hearing a loud explosion before the flames broke out.”

The television was put on mute seconds later.

“Do you two want to tell me what that was?” Betsy’s stern voice rang from the couch in the living room.

“No?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Alyssa and Emma glared at each other as they spoke over one another.

“You probably should’ve gotten your story straight before you came in the house.” Betsy rose from the couch to stand in front of the two teenagers, “now, let’s try again, what did you do to that building?”

“We didn’t do anything,” Emma protested, “the Raid was the one who blew up their own base.”

“Emma Nolan!” Betsy gasped, “you went into a Raid gang’s base  _ alone _ ?”

“Yeah…”

Betsy opened her mouth to no doubt scold Emma in the scold of a lifetime, but was cut off by Alyssa pointing towards the television.

“Wait! Mrs Nolan, turn it up please!” Alyssa cried. 

All three women went into the living room as Betsy turned the television off of mute.

“This just in, reports from the Indianapolis Police Department saying that an immeasurable piece of evidence against the group known as the Raid Gang was just brought to their station. From the statement we have from police, it’s been confirmed that the masked superhero known as Spider-Woman had turned in a flash drive containing a list of every member of the gang. We will be covering this story as it develops, back to you Carmen.”

The room went silent again as Emma’s grandma process what she had just heard. Alyssa and Emma waited expectantly as Betsy turned to face them once more.

“Merry Christmas?” Emma joked weakly.

“Obviously I’m very proud of you, but you’re grounded for not telling me.”

“That’s fair.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, one more chapter, which will be posted... when I finish it.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15 (Epilogue)

“I think this is the best date I’ve ever been on.”

“I think this is the only date either of us have been on”

Alyssa laughed from across the table. The lights were dimming outside as the sun sank down from behind the buildings in Indianapolis. The pie shop was winding down, the only other people in the store were a mother and her four kids, sitting on the other side of the room. Large green garlands occupied any flat shelf or counter in the store, wherever there wasn’t a garland, there were twinkling lights, or a pine tree decorated in red and gold ribbon, lights, and ornaments.

“This is my first date,” Alyssa admitted, “but, I was just waiting for the perfect person to ask me out.”

Emma ducked her head, “I’m not perfect.”

Alyssa shrugged, “you are to me.”

Just the way Alyssa could say something like that so casually made Emma’s heart go wild and made her blush furiously.

“God Em, you’re so red.” Alyssa teased.

“I can not help how flustered you make me when you say stuff like that,” Emma protested, finishing the last of her pumpkin pie.

“Maybe you just get flustered easily.” Alyssa’s smile turned to more of a smirk, “or maybe I just like seeing you flustered.”

“Ms Greene, there are children around.” Emma gestured to the table across the shop where the four kids sitting were paying absolutely no mind to the girls across the way.

“Everyone deserves to know how much I love you,” alyssa wiggled her eyebrows playfully.

“Yeah yeah,” Emma chuckled, “finish your pie, we have places to go.”

The weather outside was a wintery cold. The streets were icy from the moisture in the air, and the wind blew through the leafless branches on the trees lining the sidewalk. While the trees were baron of leaves, they did have tangles of white christmas lights wrapped in the branches like glowing vines. Store fronts had bright garlands and wreaths decorating every window frame and door in the city.

Hand in hand, Emma ns Alyssa wandered through the city. Emma hadn’t felt this at ease in a long, long time. With her hand slipped through Alyssa’s fingers, looking at Alyssa;s eyes light up when she looked at things in the windows, the chill of the air showing their breaths, and, most importantly, no evil gangs wandering the streets determined to wipe out the entire state.

“I’m really glad your grandma ungrounded you to let you go on a date.”

Emma laughed at the memory of telling her grandma that she and Alyssa were together and wanted to go out on a date.

“I'm just glad she didn’t want to tag along,” Emma smiled fondly, “she's been egging me to ask you out since I mentioned you in conversation.”

“She knew what was going on before we did,” Alyssa paused, suddenly becoming serious, “I want more people to know what’s going on.”

Emma raised her eyebrows in surprise, “Are you sure? We’ve only been together, like, a week.”

“No Emma, We’ve been together a lot longer.”

Emma’ heart melted at Alyssa’s unwavering determination, but she couldn’t help but remember all she had been through since people found out she was gay. How she and Alyssa had almost gotten pounded for talking to each other, and it scared Emma to think about what would happen to Alyssa if people knew.

“Alyssa,” Emma started nervously, stopping her walking pace and making Alyssa face her, “I love that you want people to know about us, but… it could be really dangerous.”

Alyssa raised an eyebrow at Emma, crossing her arms definitely, “Since when do you care about doing something dangerous?” Alyssa dropped her voice, “you are the vigilante here.”

Emma shook her head, rubbing her temples. Alyssa was going to be the death of her.

“That’s different Lys.”

“Is it?”

“Alyssa, I can lift a car, you can not.” Emma sighed as Alyssa’s expression remained unchanged. She didn’t want to bring this up, but… “Lys, I… just, a lot of bad things happened when I was outed that I don’t want to happen to you.”

Emma watched as the geers slowly started to turn in Alyssa’s head. Her determination cracked as she recalled the tormenting, the bullying and the rejection Emma had to endure. Alyssa said nothing, but the worried crease in her forehead told Emma everything she needed to hear. Without another word, Emma pulled Alyssa into a hug that the shorter teen gratefully returned.

“I… think I still want to. At some point.” Alyssa’s hesitant voice came from Emma’s chest, causing the blonde to pull back from the hug to look her girlfriend in the eyes.

“We’ll… figure something out.”

The two resumed their walk, talking about a lighter topic. They walked in laughter until they crossed a dress boutique. Alyssa bounced to the window to look at the long flowing evening dresses on the mannequins. She excitedly pointed out the ones she liked to Emma, who soon got an idea.

“Go to prom with me Lys.”

Alyssa turned from the window to look at Emma with an amused smile, “what?”

“Senior Prom, we should go together, as girlfriends.” Emma elaborated, “it’ll be late enough in the year so we won’t have to worry about people at school giving us a hard time. We’ll be going to college so it won’t matter how your mom reacts, and no one will pick a fight with us there, because they won’t want to get kicked out of their own prom. But if you don’t want to we don’t have to-”

“Emma,” Alyssa smiled brightly, her brown eyes twinkling under the golden Christmas lights, “I will go to prom with you.”

“Yeah?” Emma smiled back, “you’ll go to prom with me?”  
“That’s what I said,” Alyssa laughed, pushing Emma’s shoulder in amusement, “There’s no one I’d rather go with..

Emma stared at the dress shop in front of her, where all the rhinestones on bodices of flowing dresses twinkled in the lights. The sights smiled and danced in Alyssa’s eyes. The lights are no longer harsh, they’re gentle when they’re in her eyes. The weight of the world was no longer on Emma’s shoulders. The raid was stopped, and everyone was safe. Now all Emma just had to be brave enough to take Alyssa to the prom. It couldn’t be that hard, Emma was a lot better at being brave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll see myself out now


End file.
